Blackbird
by Keleri
Summary: It started out as a flight for freedom, only to become a quest for answers in an ever-expanding web of mysteries. Intrigue, battles and more across Hoenn and beyond... Rated for swear words, violence and mature ideas. No, it's dead. Sorry.
1. Chapter 1: A Wish Or A Prayer?

That's right! I'm at it again…good lord, will I ever learn my lesson? Oh well…it's a new attempt, so hopefully this one will stay alive longer than the others. Hopefully. Whelp, there ya go…enjoy! ^_^

Chapter One: A Wish or a Prayer?

The sun rose early in the eastern sky, burning with the fury of the coming summer. Wingulls took up their raucous calling, gliding on the breezes like scraps of cloth. The sun's rays slowly crept up the sides of the ancient crater before spilling over its edge and making the white stone glow. Sootopolis City gradually came to life.

Noirsha Hunter awoke with a start as someone flung the light, summer sheets from her bed. 

"Wakey wakey, Nori! First day of summer hols! Six AM, doesn't do to waste the day! UPUPUPUP, LET'S GO LET'S GO!!"

Nori clutched at her pillow protectively, drawing her legs up against her chest. "No! Wanna' sleeeeeeeeeeeep…"

"Nonsense, sillypants!"

"Go AWAY, Mark!"

"You are SUCH a grouch in the morning."

"It's not morning! It's still bloody dark out…" whined Nori, covering her head with her pillow.

"Dark? It's been light for half an hour! You're wasting time."

"Shush, there's no such time as six in the morning, only six in the too bloody early!"

"Do I have to bodily haul you into the lake? You know I will," said Mark, tapping his foot impatiently as Nori groaned into her pillow.

"Fiiiiiiine…"

"GREAT! I've got your shorts and a t-shirt and your b—"

"DAMMIT MARK I CAN GET MY OWN CLOTHES—"

"Rightoh, I'll just skitter off into the hallway, shall I? O-kay."

Mark quickly vacated Nori's room, closing the door behind him. Nori re-emerged a moment later, pulling on a pair of much-worn men's khaki shorts over her boxers. She glared at him with bleary, dark green eyes.

"Who let you in, anyway?"

"Myself. I think your brothers are still asleep."

"They'd sleep through a three-alarm fire, the ba—"

"So, are we ready to go?" asked Mark brightly, beaming at Nori.

"Yeah, yeah," said Nori, straightening her black tank top and running a hand through her spiky, chestnut bangs, "Whatever you—URK!"

Mark had grabbed her hand and started running, while she helplessly stumbled along in his wake. They thundered down the stairs, through a hallway and the kitchen and paused briefly enough for Nori to grab her sandals before flying out the door.

Nori felt better after she pushed Mark off the dock.

~*~*~

Sootopolis Island was an old volcano crater, made of the white ash spewed out by the earth in days long past. The city was built on the inside of the crater, the rock terraced to create a flat surface. In the center of the crater, rainwater had collected over the ages, creating a treacherously deep freshwater lake. To the annoyance of most trainers, it contained mostly magikarp, but tales were told of things much older in the deeps…and especially of the Cave of Origin.

Growing up in Sootopolis, children learned to swim, run and climb very quickly. With daily practice running up and down sets of stairs most of the day, the local high school's track and field team regularly dominated the other teams from Hoenn, and this year were poised for victory over Johto and Kanto in a tri-region meet. Swimming they were excellent at as well, but the real titans were the Pacifidlog and various Orange Island teams. 

Mark and Nori were no exception to this rule, even going beyond what was normally seen. They lived outside, really, most of the summer, and most people had no idea why they hadn't gone out on their trainer's quests yet. Mark was eighteen and Nori seventeen, and by those ages most kids had been out training, won badges and come home already. Also perplexing to most gossips was their romantic status; many things were suggested, but there was no real evidence, and the pair refused to confirm anything. Mark had a talent for not hearing questions he didn't want to answer, and Nori deserved a medal for changing the direction of a conversation.

Sootopolis was small, only a few thousand people, like most towns in Hoenn. It was dubbed a city not because of population, but due to Wallace's position as a gym leader. The island was famous for one other thing: berries. 

Berries, used by trainers as cheap alternatives to the artificially produced status-rectifying potions, or as ingredients in the mysterious candy called pokéblocks, were difficult to grow: they required a certain amount of water, sunlight, a certain type of soil…but if those requirements were fulfilled, the plants grew rapidly. Sootopolis, with its sub-tropical climate and volcanic soil, wasn't _quite_ ideal…but it worked. Berry trees of many different shades flourished on every slope, yielding a crop of berries every few days or weeks, depending on the berry. Every house had at least three old trees in their backyard, tended by successive generations of residents. 

Nori was her house's unofficial berry tender, and she was good at it, too. It was mostly because of her that her family was able to scratch out a living, although few people knew this…

"Hey! Wait, _wait_ dammit!"

"Wouldja look at that sky? Beautiful!" Mark stood on a pinnacle of rock on the edge of the crater, the sea-salt breeze ruffling his extremely curly, unkempt light brown hair, while Nori scrabbled to gain a hold on the rock. He bent down and seized both of Nori's forearms before hauling her easily up onto the rock.

"Urk! Thanks…"

"Don' mention it."

They formed an interesting pair; Mark was muscular and of average height, five foot ten or so, and Nori was as thin as a rail, five foot eight and her womanly curves rating depressingly low. What little flesh she did have on her bones was muscle gained from eleven years of tussling with Mark. Much to her annoyance, he still had her beat with everything they did except for school, swimming and berry growing. They were constantly in motion, save for when they were sleeping. With Mark it was obvious, but with Nori it wasn't immediately apparent. She tended to be quiet and rather cynical, ranging on bitter. Mark was energetic and never let anything get him down for long.

Mark hopped off the rock onto another, arms outstretched and whistling. Nori clambered down, following on the ground. She was all right with most heights, but the dizzying sheer drop on the outside edge of the crater was too much for her.

They stopped to flop down in front of an ancient, weathered pecha berry tree, overlooking the ocean. The two sat in silence for a while, listening to the roar of the sea against the rock of the island. A few wingulls swooped and dove, their thin bodies supported by the gentle breeze. Fluffy, white clouds passed lazily overhead. The sea sparkled in the sun to the edge of the horizon, where you might fancy you saw Mossdeep Island.

"So…" said Mark, quietly, suddenly serious. "Your dad get a job yet?"

Nori was silent a long time before she sighed, and answered, "No…not yet."

"It'll be all right. Something'll turn up," said Mark, syrupy brown eyes concerned. Nori seemed to be staring very intently at a point in the air in front of her.

"No…it won't," she said, quietly. "Ever since…ever since mom died, he's…" Nori trailed off. Mark sneaked a glance at her; she was hastily rubbing her eyes. "Well…if it wasn't for the berries, and for Andrew's pair of delcatties… I don't know if we'd be able to feed ourselves. I want to get away…go off pokémon training…but I can't. They're all lazy bastards, every one of them. They don't care…the only reason they haven't kicked me out is because I pay the bills…"

Mark stared at the ground, biting his lower lip as if debating with himself. Finally he sighed, and put an arm around Nori's shoulders, pulling her closer. "You've been dealt some pretty bad hands…this is the first time I've seen you really broken up about it. What happened?"

"We're done high school, Mark. I realized that if I don't do something…about my family, I'm never going to go anywhere. I'm going to be stuck on this island shipping berries and skitty kittens to Lilycove while my brothers and my father sit around all day alternately jacking off and eating, all the while talking about the jobs they're sure they're going to get. I can't take it anymore."

Mark felt her twitch slightly, as if she wanted to fling herself onto his shoulder and sob hysterically, but instead Nori got to her feet and started running down the path back inside the town.

"Nori? Wait a m…" Mark trailed off. "Gods. Like a stantler, that one," he said to himself as he watched her run. He leaned back, sighing. "Women." He then rose to his feet and started running after her.

~*~*~

Mark found her a bit later, floating on her back in the lake, not too far from the water's edge, her sandals and tank top discarded at the end of the wooden dock. He moved quickly to the side of the dock, where, crouching, he could not be seen. He regretted having to soak his khaki shorts again right after they'd achieved some measure of dryness, but shed his own sandals and t-shirt, placing them on top of the wooden planks of the dock's surface anyway. Moving as silently as he could, Mark slipped into the water. As he rounded the corner of the dock, he took a deep breath and vanished beneath the crystal surface of the lake.

Nori sighed, staring up into the blue, blue sky. Her ears were underwater, cutting off most outside sound. She floated with her hands resting on her stomach, chestnut hair fanning out behind her, her only motion her chest rising and falling with her breathing. How peaceful and quiet things seemed, how simple…

Mark swam along the soft sand bottom of the lake, doing an easy breaststroke. He passed under Nori, flipping around, then kicking off the bottom and shooting upward, breaking the surface of the water. He closed his arms in a bear hug around Nori's middle, his weight forcing them both down beneath the surface of the water.

Nori blinked, her eyes adjusting the crystalline water, bubbles swirling around in a desperate flight for the sea of air above. _What had grabbed her? A Gyarados?_ her shocked mind considered for a very random split-second. She looked down, seeing fluffed-out curly hair. _No, worse. Mark._ She reached out and, grabbing a handful of Mark's curly locks, gave them a hard yank. Mark relinquished his hold on her, and she kicked out toward the surface and sweet, sweet oxygen. She broke the surface, sputtering and coughing, Mark appearing directly after her, laughing.

"You, you bastard!" she said, in between coughs.

"Aww, come on…heyyy, you're smiling."

Nori tried to glare but found it impossible, so she tried to tackle Mark instead, which led to a round of splashing and horseplay.

Finally, Mark backed away, making a 'T' shape with his hands. 

"Okay, truce! Truce! I want to show you this place I found the other day."

Nori looked at him a bit skeptically, but nodded. "Fine. Where?"

"Over there," Mark said, treading water with one arm and gesturing across the lake with the other.

"It's a bit of a climb, though, we should walk there."

"Right. Race you to shore!" Nori dove underwater, streaking off like an otter.

Mark followed at a more leisurely pace. He had no chance of winning now that Nori had a head start.

When he reached the shore of the lake, Nori was already sitting on the end of the dock, her feet dangling in the water as she waited for the breeze to dry her upper body, which wouldn't take long in this heat. It was barely nine in the morning, but the sun was already high and oppressive.

"So, what's this place you found?" Nori asked, when he had joined her at the end of the dock.

"Oh, you'll see when we get there, I guess."

They sat in silence for a moment longer.

"Alright, that's good enough. Show me," said Nori, pulling her tank top back on and standing up.

"Mm'kay," Mark said, putting his own t-shirt back on. "This way."

~*~*~

The majority of Sootopolis City's clean, white buildings existed on the heavily terraced south-facing slope of the crater. The other side, the shaded north slope, was covered in trees, and was primarily untouched by humans…although no one was really sure why. Some said it was because the north slope was in shadow most of the day, others that it would cost too much to develop. Unspoken was the affirmation that every resident of Sootopolis shared: that they, personally, would never live there. Let the tourists defile the land where the gods were said to speak.

They walked in silence, shedding water as they moved, passing from the bright, hot sands of the lake to the cool, shadowed forest. It would have been hard going, had there not been an ancient stair of flat planks of wood set into the steep hillside, winding and curving around trees and rocks.

The forest was incredibly still, the only sound the breeze moving through the trees and the creak of the old stair. There were no pokémon in the gods' wood.

"Well…we're here."

Nori looked around, seeing nothing at first…then she looked up, seeing the small shrines set into the edge of the crater. She drew closer to the nearest one. It was small, four wooden pillars set into the stone of the crater with crosspieces running between them and a tiled roof overhead. Old, faded banners flapped idly in the breeze. She looked at the next structure, and the next, and the next; they seemed to be identical, save for what color remained on the faded banners, and the ancient glyph carved into the crosspieces of each one.

"These…are the temples to the gods," said Nori, speaking quietly, although she did not know why.

"Yes. I saw my mother coming up here, and I followed. Some people still follow the old traditions, I guess," Mark answered, speaking equally soft.

Nori swallowed, feeling apprehensive. There was an ancient tradition of honoring legendary pokémon—pokémon of immense power and rarity—as the manifestations of gods on the earth. 

"Why show me this?"

"I thought you might like to make a request at the temple of the spirit of wishes."

"Mark, you know I don't believe—"

"Can it hurt, at this point?"

Nori frowned, staring off into the sky beyond the temples. "Fine…"

Mark smiled. "Alright, I think it's this one…"

The temple to Jirachi, god of the stars and of wishes, contained a stone tablet, carved with the image of what the artist supposed the pokémon looked like, and surrounded by runic symbols and constellations.

"So what do I do?" asked Nori, grumpily, the sea breeze playing with her hair.

"Make a wish," Mark said, seemingly trying not to grin. 

"About what?"

"I'm sure you can think of something you'd like changed in your life," said Mark. "I'll meet you back at my house. I haven't eaten yet today and I'm starving." He put his hands on her shoulders, feeling the tension and stubbornness that was coursing through her so angrily. "Have some faith now and then, hmm?" he said, quietly, then bent forward a bit and kissed her on the cheek.

He disappeared back into the shadows of the trees, but Nori stood in complete shock for a moment or two. She put her hand up to touch her cheek as if she couldn't comprehend what had just occurred. Only when the breeze began to blow her long hair around again did she shake her head, dismissing it as pure silliness. 

"Stupid…now, a wish…" she muttered, folding her arms and staring hard into the distance.


	2. Chapter 2: When All You Have Is Anger

Chapter 2: When All You Have Is Anger…

"So…what'd you wish for?"

"Can't tell. It won't come true."

"Oh. Darn."

Nori could never help resenting Mark's house. Despite the two teenage boys (men, Mark would insist) in residence, it was always spotlessly clean, everything always carefully arranged and free of dust. There were vases of fresh flowers in the windows, artistically arranged, and even on this dinner table, a basket of fruit, glistening with photographic perfection.

She picked at her bacon idly with her fork, one elbow on the table and her chin resting on her hand. Mark watched her, looking worried. Despite his friend's cynical nature, she didn't usually let things bother her for this long. He finished chewing and opened his mouth to say something, but Nori interrupted.

"I wanted to apologize. I shouldn't try to pawn off any of my misery on you."

Mark shook his head. "Nonsense. I force so much of my giddiness on you, it's only fair you give me something in return."

"No, I'm serious…you don't have anything to worry about. You've got it made. You shouldn't let me bring you down."

"Well, _I_ think that you need to stop feeling so sorry for yourself and get out and _do_ something."

"Like what?"

"You know what I mean."

"You know I can't…my dad, my brothers…"

"Screw them."

"What?"

"I said, screw them. You're seventeen, you've got an International Baccalaureate High School Diploma, a Pokémon Trainer's license and a pokémon buddy who can swim. Get your crap together and _haul ass out of town._"

"But…they…I can't…" 

"Your dad is, what, forty-five? He can take care of himself."

"And Andrew and Jason?"

"Andrew was a trainer for four years, and Jason should get out and become one, too. I dare say _they_ can figure it out as well."

"Fine, so what do I do?" said Nori angrily, "Just walk into the house, 'Hey dad, sibs, I'm going to be a pokémon trainer. Scaaarew you all,' huh? I won't make it out of there alive."

"Obviously not. Just disappear. They won't know the difference until they realize they've run out of money."

"That's another thing…my dad has all the cash, I can't up and go training without any funds."  
"Where does he keep it?"

"What?"

"All the money you make and forfeit to him. Where?"

"In a box in his room, under his bed, probably. Why?"

"Take it."

"…"

"It's yours, really, isn't it?" 

Nori just stared at him.

"Why do you look so shocked?"

"Well, let's see…mostly, my best friend, whom I thought to be a carefree, simple individual, is suggesting to me that I steal money and leave my house through covert means with the confidence and poise of a…an I-don't-know-what. So, yeah, I'm just a _teeny_ bit startled."

"Oh, I take it you don't remember how effectively I organized our capture-the-flag team in eleventh grade? Anyway, it's good that you've been caught off guard. Gets the adrenaline going. When do you want to leave?"

"I…I need some time to think about this." Nori rose, pushing back her hair absently. "I'll…give you a call, I guess, if…" she trailed off, and wandered out of the kitchen. Mark heard the front door open and shut a moment later.

"She didn't eat anything," he muttered to himself, scraping Nori's untouched bacon and eggs onto his own plate. "It's worse than I thought."

~*~*~

Nori walked along the stony path, weaving between houses and under trees. It wasn't a long way from Mark's house to her own, but it seemed to take an eternity. At last, she reached it, sighing. Her own home, with its peeling paint, rotting verandah and broken roof tiles was in sharp contrast to Mark's highly polished residence. Only the backyard showed any evidence of care; her berry trees ringed the house, squat and brightly colored.

Nori walked up to her front door, the steps and deck creaking loudly. She went in, the screen door snapping shut behind her. She kicked off her sandals into the closet beside the door and walked into the living room, where her only parent and siblings were watching television—some league match, by the sound of it.

"Nori!" exclaimed her father, shutting off the television and getting up off the armchair he had been sitting in. For a second, she imagined that he was _pleased_ to see her. "Where the _hell_ have you been? All I get is an empty bed, no note or anything! Just _what_ have you been doing?"

"I went swimming and walking with a friend."

"Who?"

"Mark."

"That Evans boy!?"

"Yes."

"Swimming, eh? Why is it only your shorts that look damp, then?" interjected Andrew from his spot on the couch.

Nori took a deep breath to try and stay calm. "Because I take off my tank top to swim."

"I _knew_ it!" her father roared. "Swimming topless with a man, you little slut!"

Nori felt a terrible, burning anger swell up inside her at those words. "I was _not_ swimming topless! I had a bra on, for your information," she roared back.

"It's almost as bad, then!"

"No, it's not! I've seen girls with bikini tops skimpier than my underwear, and it's solid fabric, not lace or something."

Andrew snorted. "Yeah, right."

"Oh, would you like me to remove my clothes and prove it? I bet you'd love that, you perverted bastards!"

That caught them off guard. Her father dropped the attack, sensing he'd rapidly lost control of the situation. "Now just wait a minute, Nori, I never meant that…it's just not respectable, that's all…"

"Not respectable? I'll tell _you_ what's not respectable: screwing around here at home all day, living off your _daughter's_ income!"

"That, that was uncalled-for," her father managed to stammer out. "You know I'm just waiting for my application to go thr—"

"Oh really? Well you just keep telling yourself that, Rob."

"Come on, Nori…mom said we've got to stick together…" whispered Jason, staring at his hands.

"Don't you even _try_ to use guilt against me," Nori hissed dangerously.

"I don't see what you're so mad about. If it were up to me, you'd be locked in the kitchen, where you belong," sneered Andrew.

"You _pustulant_ misogynist!" spat Nori. "I am going to break your fu—"

"That is _enough_, Nori! Go…go to your room!"

"_Fine_."

Nori exited the room, her thudding steps up the stairs very audible to the three males. Only when they heard a door slam did they dare to speak again.

Andrew whistled. "Jeez, PMS or _what_?"

The others didn't reply. After a moment, Jason rose to his feet. 

"I'm going upstairs."

"It's your funeral," grunted Andrew, taking the remote control off the coffee table and switching the television back on. "Aww jeez, we missed the match."

"Who won?" grunted Robert Hunter, seeming to come back to his senses.

"Can't tell. Stupid bitch, why'd she have to come in right then?"

"Don't talk about your sister that way," Rob said, automatically.

"Whatever."

~*~*~

Nori thundered around her room in a rage. She couldn't stay here, no, not a _moment_ longer, not with those three—alright, Jason wasn't such a bad sort—two pitiful excuses for human beings sitting down there. Only when she punched the wall furiously—leaving a dent—and hurting her hand, did she begin to think more clearly.

It was no good trying to go now…the living room had a full view of the front door, and she'd make too much noise trying to leave via the kitchen door. It was, however, an ideal time to retrieve the money container from under her father's bed.

She stepped out of her room, quietly shutting the door…only to realize Jason was standing right there.

"You're leaving, aren't you?" he asked, startlingly blue eyes misted over with tears.

"What?" Nori stopped herself from looking too guilty…she hoped.

"You're going to go away and leave us. You _can't_. I won't let you."

"Jason…I don't know where you're getting this idea, but—"

"I can see it. You want to go to the mainland and train pokémon."

Nori stared, trying not to look incredulous. Jason ran a hand through his spiky cobalt blue hair—so like her mother's—in agitation. He was thirteen, he was merely overreacting of course…he couldn't sense her thoughts…could he?

"It's not true."  
"It _is_. You can't go. I'm telling dad."

"Jason, wait—" Nori tried to grab him, but he was already flying down the hallway and then the stairs.

"Dad! DAAAD!!" She heard his voice echo in the stairwell.

"Jason, NO!" she yelled, hopelessly.

~*~*~

"You _can not_ leave. I _forbid_ it. I was charged by my _dead wife_ to keep this family together. You are going _nowhere_."

"I doubt Marisa Hunter had _this_ in mind when she said that," Nori hissed back.

They were standing very close, trying to stare each other down.

"And you knew her better than me, I take it?"

"Maybe not, but I am not blinded by a need to keep my oldest daughter in virtual servitude so your lazy ass can afford cable."

"This isn't about me! This is about the group as a whole. We share the money you make so we can all live, while I'm trying to find a job."

"And Andrew? He's _twenty-one years old_. What the _hell_ is he doing, screwing around all day, huh?"

"What Andrew does with himself is his business—"

"Oh, is it? Maybe it's _my_ business what I do with _my_ money, like, for example, NOT BLOWING IT ON SOME LAZY WANKERS!"

"Jeez, Nori, take some damn ritaliiiiiiAUGH!" Andrew slumped to the floor, clutching at his groin.

"I've had _enough_ out of you, misogynist."

"Nori, honestly—"

"Do not even _try_ to tell me that was uncalled-for. You _cannot_ guilt me into staying and supporting your stupid asses anymore. Step out of the way of my life."

"Nori, please…" Jason whispered, tears crystalline on his upturned face.

"Grow up, you little monster," Nori spat, before turning and thundering back up the stairs.

~*~*~

It was amazing how little she really owned.

She had fit all her worldly possessions into two duffel bags, a backpack and a cardboard box. She had lowered the duffel bags and the backpack to the ground outside her window, but the box contained more…delicate items, so it would have to be carried.

She had found her old trainer's belt in her closet. It felt odd, wearing it now.

She still had all her old gear, amassed in preparation for a cross-region journey that never happened.

She didn't have much money—a few coins and bills she found tucked away in her room—but she imagined that if things were really bleak, she might be able to borrow something from Mark until she started winning battles.

__

If you win battles, a cruel voice reminded her.

Nori put the box under one arm, trying to move stealthily. She exited her room, silent as a shadow and closed the door carefully—only to come face-to-face with her father. 

She opened her mouth to snap something, but subsided as Rob waved a hand and blinked tired, red-rimmed eyes.

"I know I can't stop you going. But…I would appreciate"—he took a thin, paper-wrapped bundle from a pocket—"if you would burn these. At the temple of wanderers."

Nori took the bundle a bit awkwardly, trying not to jostle the box. "You…know I don't believe…"

"I know. But it would make me feel better."

"…Whatever." Nori tried to push past her father, towards the stairs.

"…Wait. Take this, too. It's yours, anyway."

Nori took the wad of pokéyen bills Rob held out. "What? But…"

"That's not all of it, but…I was hoping you'd lend us some."

"…Yeah. Yeah, that's fine."

Nori stared a moment before bowing, the action abbreviated by the things she carried, then continued down the stairs.

After a moment, Rob heard the muted click of the front door being closed.

"Good luck…you'll need it."

~*~*~

Hey, second chapter…this one was almost all dialogue, sorry if you don't like that. The pace should pick up by the next chapter, hopefully. Anyway, please review! Reviews boost my ego and make me want to write more. ^_^


	3. Chapter 3: Freedom Is Not Without A Pric...

Chapter 3: Freedom Is Not Without A Price

She sat on the crater's edge, leaning against one of the temple's columns. The sun, half immersed in the calm sea, cast its dying glow over her and the island. The breeze gusted slightly, and a tendril of sweet smoke from the incense wound around her. She sighed. Lavender, as always…

Nori stood up, walked under the temple's protecting roof. The tablet here was different stone, more brown than the one in Jirachi's temple…and undeniably older. The two gods were set on it with very worn material, stone, or glass, perhaps. One was bluish, the other red-hued, bearing the forms of what appeared to be griffins; winged, bird-headed and possessing forelegs, but what seemed to be extra pairs of wings where the hind legs should have been. They were the brother-and-sister gods of wanderers: Latias and Latios.

The carving must have been very ancient. People tended to catch glimpses of the legendary pokémon, sometimes even blurry, overexposed photographs. The general consensus as to what the wandering gods looked like was far more dragonlike than the figures on this block of stone…but that did not particularly matter.

There were deep, thin holes set into the top of the tablet. Three were now occupied by sticks of incense, burning away slowly, segments glowing orange, then graying and scattering to the wind.

Nori was an atheist, along with the majority of the population of the world. A period of enlightenment had been the final downfall of the hypocritical, enslaving, anti-thought, patriarchal old religions. People helped one another not because of the fear of an eternity of suffering, but because it was the _right thing to do_. Phrases with religious connotations under the old religions were now merely a part of the language. In the wake of the fall, an ancient, near-forgotten religion returned, to exist in secret: the worship of the legendary pokémon.

Ancient temples like the ones on the crater edge, here, were carefully, silently restored. People left offerings of berries, of brightly-colored scarves and ribbons, of pretty shells or stones. There were no priests, no clergy. Only the people and the gods.

Who needed a priest when the gods walked, swam, flew outside the very cities?

Few people openly admitted to being pokémon-worshippers. It always seemed immature, a child's game. One appreciated the gods' powers of balance, praying for rain, for sun, for safety, for intercession. One left small gifts, tokens; large sacrifices or tithes were unneeded because there was no greedy clergy making a living from the hopes of the people. The majority only made requests occasionally, with the admittance that although it was all a load of tripe, it couldn't hurt, really.

Her father had asked her to burn the incense. He wanted to pray for her safety.

…Did you ever, truly know someone?

She sat back down, gazing at the dying sun. She remained there even as it disappeared and the sky was covered in a gown of velvet midnight blue and starlight.

~*~*~

Mark sat in the darkness on his front porch, swinging idly in the hanging bench, a large basket of berries at his side. He had gone to pick them from Nori's yard while she was gone, at her request. 

It had been a while since then, and he was beginning to feel the first twinges of apprehension. What a terrible irony that would be, to crawl out of one hole, only to fall into a greater chasm…

As he heard footsteps coming up the street, he breathed a sigh of relief. Nori appeared, coming up the walk with her head bowed and her hands in her pockets. Wordlessly, she sat down beside him.

"So…"

"Mm."

"You're leaving in the morning?"

"First ferry to Slateport, from Mossdeep."

"I got the berries you wanted."

"Great. Did you talk to Levi?"

"Yup. He was really excited. He said he'd meet you by the docks at dawn."

"Wonderful."

"I wish I could come with you…"

"You…what? You're not coming?" Nori blinked. _Of course he's not,_ she chided herself. _It was so obvious._ But still…having Mark with her had become habit, natural. He was always there. She didn't need to think about it anymore. And now, suddenly…

"Yeah…I really want to, you know, but…" He averted his gaze. "I'm going to be an engineer. My parents are paying my way through university. I can't…you know, just throw that away."

"Of, of course, but…I just…expected…" she trailed off.

"I'm sorry…" Mark hugged her, held her close. "You'll have to go it alone."

Nori said nothing, simply returned her friend's embrace.

~*~*~

She rose before the sun did, dressing and doing some last-minute packing in the ghostly predawn light. She had the majority of her supplies in a standard digital storage device that worked with a similar concept as a poké ball, but it could store multiple types of objects. She had a second device for storing berries: it was gentler, took longer to convert the fruits into data, but the berries stayed in better condition. A number of other items she wanted close to hand were not stored, simply stuffed inside her military surplus backpack. It was a drab, grayish green color, but it would take a lot to damage it. 

Nori stood in front of a full-length mirror, looking over her white tank top, khaki cargo shorts and black combat boots. She had put on a pair of spiked black leather wristbands, felt they contributed to the overall effect quite nicely. 

In the corner of the guest room, the five skitty kittens slept, piled on top of one another and nestled in a pad of wool blankets. She hadn't arranged to sell them yet, but Mark's mother had fallen in love with the cute kittens, so it looked like they'd be sticking around. Their parents were probably roaming the house somewhere, approving of the fastidious cleanliness. Her fingers strayed down to the one poké ball already attached to her belt. She had owned a license for a long time, since she was eleven. She had never been able to travel and take the league challenge until now. 

One pokémon she had with her, the other would be waiting for her soon. They were both of a modest level, so she would work on training a starter pokémon, if she could get one, in Slateport. There was a researcher living in the hills near there, a woman by the name of Professor Willow. Being able to store one's pokémon at a laboratory where they'd get regular meals and exercise was vastly preferable to letting them rot in a dreamlike stasis on a digital storage network.

Nori sighed, rubbing her tired green eyes, before turning and heading out the door, and quietly making her way down the stairs. She noticed, not without a measure of surprise, that Mark had been waiting for her in the foyer.

"Mark? Wha?"

"I just…wanted to see you before you left," Mark said, a bit awkwardly.

"Oh…"

"And, well…I wanted to give you this." Mark took a very worn great ball out of a pocket.

"Bitey? No…I couldn't…"

"Come on. You're not going to have me to protect you—" he chuckled a bit at Nori's amused glare "—but at least you'll have this guy."

Nori sighed, taking the great ball. "Fine." She attached it to her belt, the clips coming into effect with a dull click.

Mark turned, opening the door for her. "Well…good luck."

Nori put a hand up to his cheek, her fingers brushing up against blondish stubble. "Thanks, Mark."

Mark watched her disappear into the early morning mist, and for a sudden, jarring second wondered if he'd ever see her again. He shook his head, dismissing it as folly…but glanced involuntarily back into the fog before he closed the door. 

~*~*~

Nori pulled her watch, chipped and missing straps, out of her pocket. It was five-thirty in the morning. Gods…she planned to have breakfast in Mossdeep. The ferry didn't leave until ten. She had time. Hopefully.

She reached the docks, looked out onto the crystal-smooth water. It seemed to be dawn, technically, so where was Levi?

Her question was abruptly answered with a screaming roar as a massive dark-blue form erupted from the water, sending droplets flying everywhere.

Nori looked up at the gyarados, massive fangs, catlike eyes, bony three-pointed crest and all. Levi, short for Leviathan, gazed at her, purring.

"Hey Levi," she said. "Did Mark explain everything to you?"

The dark blue gyarados growled and inclined his head, indicating the affirmative.

"Great! Listen," she began, removing a bluish poké ball from her pocket, "I need to put you in one of these so I can take you with me when I have to go on land. That alright?"

Leviathan looked doubtful, but showed agreement.

Nori threw the dive ball, which closed on the gyarados, its center turning white immediately to show capture. The ball returned to her hand, which she then threw again, back out into the water. Levi appeared again in a burst of blue light, shaking his head a bit.

"Didn't like that, eh? Sorry, you're probably going to have to get used to it." Nori shrugged apologetically. "So, all ready to go to Mossdeep?" Levi growled, pleased, and lowered his head so she could clamber on, and seat herself in between two points of his crest. "Alright, let's go."

The gyarados lowered his head into the water and set off at a considerable pace, toward the exit of the crater.

~*~*~

Levi had a cruising speed of about thirty-five knots, making their passage across routes 128 and 127 reasonably quick but windy. Nori dozed as the sun emerged from its trip underneath the world, rising fiery and terrible to crawl across the sky. Tentacool bobbed on the waves in clusters, the sun reflecting off the red crystals embedded in them. A pod of wailmer passed, giving the lone gyarados a wide berth.

About two hours later, Levi let Nori off on the shallows surrounding Mossdeep. She recalled him into his dive ball, and made her way toward the island.

The short walk took longer than Nori had hoped. The sand, with a coating of water in most cases, had sucked and pulled at her boots, slowing her pace. She tried to stay on dry sand as much as she could, but it was difficult. When she finally reached the good, hard earth of the island, she had time for a hurried breakfast before she'd have to board the ferry. Kicking the sand off her boots with resignation, she started off toward the pokémon center.

~*~*~

Mossdeep seemed somewhat less sleepy than Sootpolis had been. The attendant in the pokécenter healed her pokémon with a cheery efficiency, not yet worn out and irritable from a day's worth of haughty trainers. It reminded Nori of herself when she spoke to Leviathan. She needed to talk to him completely as a bright, happy friend. She feared that if she was more, well, like herself, Levi would turn on her, and the last thing she needed was an angry gyarados.

She bought a couple of sandwiches in the cafeteria of the pokécenter, and wolfed them down while walking to the harbor. It was admittedly still early for a day when all the kids were out of school, but she expected a few more children to be playing outside. She dismissed the idea and concentrated on finding the place where the ferry she would be taking was docked.

Nori found the ferry not long after, a medium-sized craft that made the rounds from Mossdeep to Rustboro and all stops in between. It transported trainers, tourists and mail for the most part, but there was always worry of an attack by pirates. Most were fended off successfully, but every ship's captain had a horror story…

She noticed that people seemed to be boarding already and extracted her ticket from a pocket. She held it up as she passed the sailor at the gate, who nodded, bored. As she boarded the ship, another sailor took her ticket and examined it. 

"You're in room 107. Up the stairs and to your right."

"How long does it take to get to Slateport?"

"Depends, but even if we're lucky, it'll still be a good eight hours. Hope you brought a book," he added, chuckling.

Nori grimaced slightly and went to find her room. At this rate, she'd be _lucky_ if there was a pirate attack…

~*~*~

So there ya go! I'd say that's about the end of the prologue, now the real trouble begins. So, what'd you think of the chapter? Like? No like? Tell me! Review! ^_^


	4. Chapter 4: Looking Without Seeing

Chapter 4 - Looking Without Seeing

Some distance away, beneath the bulk of an extinct volcano, within a maze of iron and stone, sat a girl. Not merely any girl—or perhaps 'young woman' was more correct—judging by her clothing, her posture, the air of arrogance that persisted despite her obvious anxiety. She shifted her weight, the flimsy fold-out chair creaking, ran a hand through her hair, cast a nervous glance at the door to her right. She stood up, glancing down at her uniform, picked a strand of black fur off one of the gray stripes on her pants, sat down again quickly, thinking of what it would look like if the door had suddenly opened then. Had to adjust her hood so it sat straight on her head. Jumped, finally, when the door opened with a hiss.

Another woman emerged, in much the same clothing, save that she had a skirt instead of pants. She was rather white, but managed to smirk at the girl before continuing down the hall.

"Lillith Noreen Thrasher," came a voice from inside the room.

Lily rose to her feet and walked into the room, trying to appear calm and utterly unafraid. She stopped at the desk, bowed. Noted the rich red of the carpet, the paintings and maps on the walls. Waited three seconds, counting them silently. Lifted her head.

He faced the large, floor-to-ceiling windows, hands clasped behind his back, apparently ignoring her. It was a nice view: trees, sand and the ocean beyond. Infinitely more interesting than an employee, even if that employee was also an administrator. She waited for him to speak.

Maximus sighed, eventually, turned to face her. Gazed at her with green eyes hardened by long years, ran a hand through thinning hair.

"Lily…you would know, should know, better than most, why we are here."

"Sir?"

"Team Magma. What is our purpose?"

"Seventy per cent of our planet's surface is water. We shall increase the area of the land, giving people and pokémon new places to live, by summoning the monster Groudon from its sleep beneath the earth. Sir."

Maximus sighed. It was always the same, a credo recited and memorized by everyone in the organization, from his administrators on down. He had hoped…it was Lillith, of all people, but even then… 

It had not been like this, once. 

"You know…the day is almost upon us. Very soon…our years of study and search will be fulfilled. Our dreams realized. How do you feel about this?"

"What I feel is inconsequential, sir. There are troops to be directed, plans to be made. I will do my duty, regardless of my feelings."

Maximus sighed again, walked past his high-backed chair, spun it as he passed. His only competent admin became a robot around him and the others, he was reasonably sure, had got there by sleeping with executives, not by merit. 

They were drawing ever closer to their goal, racing with Team Aqua. There would be a showdown eventually, and when that happened he needed all of his soldiers meeting expectations, exceeding them.

It was that thrice-cursed Archibald. As always. At least that hadn't changed. Two teams, competing for opposing goals. Only one could emerge the victor, really. What good was more sunlight when rain would simply follow it?

"You are dismissed, Lily."

"Thank you, sir."

She turned, walking with purpose and energy from the room.

He sighed a final time, turned toward the window.

This had been easier, in days long past.

~*~*~

Lily strode from the room, nodding to the terrified-looking grunt now sitting in the chair she had previously occupied. She kept going, walking briskly until she judged she had traveled far enough along the metal corridor. She stopped, leaned against the steel wall, her hood thrown back, exposing her lilac hair. She slid to the ground, and laughed for a long time.

~*~*~

"Lily!"

She glanced around, trying to locate the source of the call, and noticed her squad of grunts at a table, waving to get her attention. She crossed the room, ignoring jeers from other groups, and sat down beside a grunt with spiky dark green hair.

"How'd your performance review go, Lilypants?" asked a grunt across the table and to her right. He grinned mischievously.

"Not bad, I think. He asked me some weird questions. And I'll feed you to your own golbat if you call me Lilypants again, Ben. Or cut your hair. Whichever is easier."

The table erupted into laughter as Ben pulled his hood protectively over his head, shielding his extremely curly brown hair. He shivered with mock horror, his light blue eyes wide. "No Lily, not the hair, I beg you!"

"Who was in before you?" asked a shorter, flaxen-haired grunt further along the bench.

"It was Courtney, Mouse," Lily answered, disgust in her tone.

"Oooh, Courtney, eh?" The tall, broad-shouldered grunt who said this raised his eyebrows, glancing from side to side along the table. "What do you reckon _her_ review was about?" More laughter followed his statement.

Lily shrugged, trying to suppress a smile. "Well, she looked pretty pleased with herself when she came out."

The cobalt blue-haired grunt across from her sighed wistfully. "Man, I wish _I_ could give her a performance review one day," he said, eliciting more guffaws from around the table.

"I dunno, Jake, I think Marietta was hoping you'd save that honor for her," said a very tall black grunt, who laughed, utterly unfazed when the woman beside him elbowed him hard in the ribs. Jake turned toward Marietta, winked and blew her a kiss. She responded by tossing her magenta-hued hair and making a rude hand gesture in his direction.

"What…questions did he ask?" came a voice from the end of the table, causing the merriment to perish immediately. A grunt with dark gray, purple-tipped dreadlocks looked up from stroking the black eevee that was the group's mascot. He tilted his head to the side, slightly. Feigning interest, in Lily's opinion. The younger, crimson-haired grunt beside him moved down the bench nervously.

Lily shrugged. "Just some stuff about the team, why we're here, what our goals are…that sort of thing."

"So…nothing about your performance, really."

"No." 

"I see." He fell silent, leaving the rest of the table, as always, slightly nervous.

Lily disliked Ilthuriel, though she was never sure why. He was an excellent, talented trainer, didn't talk much, had interesting hair, and yet…

__

And yet, she thought to herself, _there was something very, very wrong about those amethyst eyes…_

The dark red-haired grunt near Ilthuriel coughed nervously. "So, any word on our next job?"

"No idea, Kato, but Maxie was dropping hints about the plan coming closer to being finished and all that."

"I think Tabitha's squad is gonna be raiding the Slateport shipyards…there's supposed to be something there Maxie needs," said the black grunt.

"You sure, Crush?" said the tall grunt beside him, running a hand through his violently orange hair.

"Pretty much, Doze."

"Damn it," hissed the spiky green-haired grunt beside Lily, speaking for the first time. "Unless we're doing a big job in the near future, we aren't gonna see any action for weeks!"

"Patience, grasshopper," said Jake serenely. "We will get our play in time."

"Whatever. And it's Ghost, thanks for noticing," snarled the grunt. It was a name that fitted him well; he was extremely pale nearly all of the time. A little color might come into his face if he got angry enough.

"So," said Marietta, changing the subject hastily, "they served lunch yet? I'm _starving_."

~*~*~

Lily wandered back to her assigned room some time later. As she opened the door with a swipe of a key card, she was greeted by a black, furry shape which almost tackled her to the ground, yipping excitedly.

"Fen, Fen! Geroff, you monster!" Lily laughed as she pushed the mightyena back into her room, the door sliding shut with a hiss. She sat on the edge of her bed, her mightyena putting her head in her lap. Lily scratched behind the wolf pokémon's ears. Fenrir whined softly, her tail thumping against the floor, indicating her happiness.

Lily laughed to herself. Mightyenas were fierce, menacing pokémon in combat, but most, like her Fenrir, were very affectionate outside of battle.

"Now, how long have you been running loose in here?"

Fenrir whined, clearly expecting a reprimand. 

"Aww, no, not the face, not the puppy eyes…dammit. Fine, but my point is that you've been running around for _quite_ enough time and you need to sleep, now. Go on. No, not the face—see, I'm not looking, ha! Come on, now. Into your pokéball."

The mightyena whimpered disappointedly but submitted to the red beam of light. Lily sighed, and placed the pokéball back on her trainer's belt, next to a great ball, an ultra ball and another pokéball. She rose and opened the room's one movable window wider, smelt the sea air. She was lucky to have a room with a view; administrator's privileges, not like those poor grunts locked in a basement somewhere. 

She felt there was a certain amount of prestige attached to being in Team Magma. They were criminals sometimes, sure, but it was for a good cause, ultimately. She had no idea why it was so hard to find recruits. Lot of fun, cool uniforms (better 'n Team Aqua's, anyway), meet friends, work with pokémon…what more did you want, really?

Lily sighed. Well, admittedly…being your own boss and roaming the hills was rather better than sitting here on an island nobody knows about and wondering when you'd next be allowed some fresh air. She was insane, absolutely insane to be here, but she was pretty high up now and that had to be worth _something_, right?

One could only hope…

~*~*~

There! Sorry for the shorter chapter everyone, I've been really busy this week, it's been horrible. In any case, read and review! Reviews make me want to write more, you know.

And in other news…

Alright everybody, I know other authors have profited from it and I'm a tad short of ideas, soooo…it's time for Submit a Character Week…or Fortnight…whatever it takes. Anywho. All you have to do is fill out the following form and e-mail it to me (oonekokeleri@yahoo.ca), and, if your character is pronounced satisfactory, they may appear sometime in the story…as a trainer met in passing, someone to battle, or maybe, just maybe, if they're impressive enough, a more…important role. We'll see. Try to make your descriptions as complete as you can, otherwise I'll have to take artistic license and I might wreck your character. I do have a few guidelines, as well:

-No made-up Pokémon.

-No PokéMorphs.

-For heaven's sake, no legendaries.

-No godmoder superstars. I'd prefer beginning to moderately experienced trainers.

-Original characters, please. I despise Ash and the rest.

-The spell-checker is your friend. =]

Ze Form 

Name:

Age:

Gender:

Height/Weight:

Pokémon (No more than four belt Pokémon…if they have different colorations, please say so…and no more than one shiny per trainer):

Appearance (Eye, hair color, clothes, ethnic origin [so if they're black/white/oriental, whatever, I make them so], etc.):

Personal History:

Personality (So I know how to make them react to different situations, whatever):

Anything Else You Want To Add:

Yay. Well, snap to it! ^_^


	5. Chapter 5: Unlikely Allies

Chapter 5: Unlikely Allies

Slateport City was a haven for oceanic researchers, its docks occupied equally by submarines, commercial freighters and private yachts. Its economy depended on shipbuilding; indeed, nearly half the city consisted of warehouses, assembly plants and finished hulls sitting around on trailers. The tallest building in town was the region-renowned Contest House.

It was rather late in the day when Nori arrived via the _Cleferry_, the title of the wretched scow she had traveled from Mossdeep upon. Oh, the accommodations were fine, just fine, but it was the highly irritating passengers that were the trouble. In between being violently seasick over the railings, they were forever challenging anything with a trainer's belt. Nori had refused her first challenge, being unsure of her abilities and not wanting to endanger her critically low money supply, and hid her pokéballs underneath a jacket tied around her waist.

Disembarking in Slateport, she had visions of having to make her way around sailor's taverns under cover of darkness, but the summer sun was still very much in evidence as she cleared the harbor and made her way toward a large, open-air market.

There were numerous shops and stalls, selling everything from dolls to bootleg vitamins. Nori wandered from stall to stall, hoping she could find something useful and cheap, but it seemed as if any purchases made here would dangerously strain her current funds. She was perusing a table of technical machines when something tall, dark and leather-clad smashed into her right side. 

Nori staggered but kept her balance. Turning to face her assailant, the stream of abuse she had lined up died on her lips.

He glanced at her briefly before turning back to the display. "Did I bump you? Sorry." Every inch the obvious gangster, from the sunglasses to the gelled hair to the leather jacket.

"It's okay," she managed to squeak, intending to flee without actually looking like she was running off in fright.

Something rather shorter appeared from behind the gangster, with violently green, spiked hair, a tartan skirt and sporting a leather jacket and combat boot ensemble similar to her cohort's. She squealed in delight upon seeing Nori.

"_Awesome_ spikes, mate, where'd'ja get 'em?"

Nori blinked twice in surprise before realizing what the punk girl was talking about. "Oh, these?"—She glanced at her wrists—"I bought them in Mossdeep, ages ago."

"Damn, I was hoping you got 'em 'round here someplace, I've only been able to find these pansy blunt ones," she held up her own wrists in evidence. "Anyway, my name's Eve, who're you?"

"Noirsha, but I prefer Nori."

"Nori? Like the seaweed?"

"Nah, like law, or rule."

"Noirsha, eh? Pretty name," said the male gangster. 

"Er, thanks. It's supposed to mean 'blackbird', not sure what language, though. I figured it was French for a long time, then I actually learned some and that's not true…"

"Sweet. This is Johnny," said Eve, gesturing at the male gangster, who nodded. "Just so you know. He never seems to get around to telling people his name; I waited two months before I finally found out. So where're ya from?"

"Sootopolis. Nice place, I guess."

"We're from Johto. Got bored, decided to do some traveling, you know how it is. You a trainer?"

"Technically. I was going to head over to the lab that's just outside of town and get a starter."

"A starter? But you've gotta be"—Eve squinted appraisingly—"at _least_ as old as I am."

"Yeah. I'm a late bloomer and all that," Nori shrugged, trying to seem dismissive. 

"I see," said Eve, who didn't look completely convinced. "Anyway, we just got here a day or two ago; don't know the terrain or anything. We were looking for a local who knew their way around, so maybe we could wander without, you know, dying horribly in the wilderness."

"Well, I've got the map pretty much memorized," interjected Johnny.

"Shush, you don't count."

"Er, well, I suppose you could wander with me, if you like…I was getting worried I'd only have my pokémon for company for days on end."

"Great! I like it. We never had much interest in challenging the league, too much work. So where're ya staying?"

"I just got into town, but I was figuring on the pokémon center."

"Lovely. What say ye, Johnny?"

"'S all the same to me."

"Great. Shall we go?" said Eve, gesturing in the direction of the pokémon center.

~*~*~

Nori was beginning to regret meeting up with the two punk trainers, as they both loudly discussed music the entire way to the pokécenter, leaving her to feel rather like a fifth wheel in the conversation. She was thankful for the brief quiet as they left for the cafeteria, leaving her alone in the lounge area. They returned with sandwiches and juice for three. Nori attempted to protest, but was cut short.

"No, no, it's on me. You look like you've been on starvation rations for a year," insisted Johnny.

Nori mumbled her thanks, still rather intimidated by the six-foot-tall gangster, and tried not to devour her sandwich as her stomach urged.

"So, you've got some pokémon already, I noticed. Why d'you need a starter?" asked Eve.

Nori hastily swallowed a bite of sandwich. "Well, any one of the three evolves into something dead useful; they're strong and have great attacks…and my current team is somewhat advanced in terms of levels, so I wanted another decent pokémon to train while my skill level catches up with the gyms'."

"Oh really? What've you got so far?"

"A gyarados at about level twenty-two and a poochyena at around level sixteen. At least, according to my older brother's pokédex. Oh, and a skitty, at level thirteen, I think, though I'm not going to train her."

"A gyarados? Lucky bastard," muttered Johnny.

"Well, most trainers from Sootopolis have one…the only wild pokémon there is magikarp, and then a few wild gyarados. I caught mine wild…well, not really. Levi…Leviathan was just a friend, basically. I asked him to come with me and he agreed."

"Hold up. You make _friends,_ with a gyarados, _how_?" asked Eve.

"Well…back when I was, I dunno, like ten or eleven, my friend and I stopped a swellow from eating this puny magikarp that was flopping around in the shallows of the lake. We felt really sorry for him, and started bringing him food and stuff. He started to get bigger, and then we didn't see him so much anymore, but we used to go swimming every day so we'd see him eventually, and we'd be really nice to him, of course. Then one summer we didn't see him at all, so we figured a swellow or something had finally got him. But nearing the end of the summer, my friend and I, we were floating out on this raft, all peaceful and whatnot. Suddenly, the raft turns over and pitches us into the water, and when we surface there's this farking huge gyarados there, grinning at us. Being as there's not much more frightening than a gyarados grinning at you when you're fourteen and floating in the water in your underwear, we both figured we were going to die. But after a minute or two passed and we still hadn't been eaten, we realized that this was our old magikarp friend. We started calling him Leviathan, and he'd give us rides across the lake and things…and then when I finally got going on my trainer's quest, he agreed to accompany me."

Eve gave a mock sniffle. "Oh, that's so beautiful…"

"Oh, be quiet," said Nori, a bit indignantly, but smiling all the same.

"You seem rather troubled, though. What's the matter?"

"Well, I feel a bit…I dunno. It's just that, I always figured I'd end up being a doctor. Being a pokémon trainer was always my friend—my best, and only friend, now that I think about it—my friend Mark's dream. I probably wouldn't've been interested in pokémon without him. And so I dreamed that eventually, we'd both go training together…unbeatable duo and all that. But now, I'm the one out training…and he's the one who's going to university."

"That's…rather unpleasantly ironic. Are you sure you haven't particularly angered any gods?" asked Johnny, one eyebrow raised.

"Heh. Not that I'm aware of," answered Nori. "But it was when Mark gave me his poochyena that I knew things'd never be the same. Bitey really meant a lot to him. He was his sole reminder of his older brother."

"Reminder?" said Eve, questioningly.

"Yeah, I think his name was Bruce, or Ben or something like that. I can't really remember, he was five or six years older than I was, and he went out pokémon training as soon as he got his license. I can't really remember what he looked like, even though he used to come home for the midwinter festival every year. Then when he was fifteen or sixteen, he didn't come home, but he sent his family gifts. Mark got Bitey. Ben, or whatever his name was, disappeared shortly after that. His parents never forgave him, but Mark really missed him. I guess I can't remember because no-one talked about him, ever."

"Jeez. Heavy," commented Eve.

"Sometimes…you've got to go it alone. You've only really got yourself to trust," said Johnny, leaned back in his armchair, arms folded and eyes closed. "People come and go."

"Well, I know…but…" Nori trailed off. "Listen, I'm going to go up to my room. I'm really tired."

"Okay. See you in the morning, then?"

"Yeah, six AM. I want to get to the lab bright and early, and try to make it to Oldale Town by nightfall."

"Six AM?" Eve grimaced. "You're cruel, but we'll try to manage."

"Great. See ya." Nori got up and swung her backpack over one shoulder, then disappeared up the stairs.

~*~*~

Johnny was right, of course, one couldn't deny that. _But it just hurts too much, sometimes,_ Nori thought to herself, staring at her reflection in the bathroom mirror of her room at the 'center. _Too damn much._ She toweled her face dry and went to bed. A flick of a light switch immersed the room in darkness.

~*~*~

The dawn found the rather motley trio on their way toward the laboratory, Nori setting a brisk pace and the two punks yawning widely as they followed, toting messenger bags bedecked in patches, pins and buttons of extremely varied origin.

Nori had noticed a poster on the pokémon center's window, advertising a new shipment of starter pokémon at Professor Willow's lab, outside Slateport. Any new trainers were advised to go there on the fifteenth of June—today—to receive one. This gave her all the more reason to hurry. She did have an early start, but one never knew…

As the forest closed in on the group, shading the road with branches of varied apparel, its beauty and the chorus of birdsong was lost on the three. Eve and Johnny were loudly discussing the merits of dictatorships, and Nori was completely focused on getting to the lab. 

They had been walking for at least forty-five minutes when the lab, stark gray metal in the midst of the wood, finally came into view. Nori had to restrain herself from running the last few meters to its large double doors. She rang the doorbell, heard the faint musical tinkle somewhere deep inside the lab, and then stepped back to wait for someone to answer.

This Professor Willow's lab was very large, with a high glass dome to the north of where they were standing and a large, open paddock area to the west.

The door opened before she could admire further. Looking down, she saw that a short, dark red Pokémon had opened it. A charmeleon, if she remembered correctly…they weren't native to Hoenn. It sighed resignedly and beckoned to them with a claw, bidding them entry. They walked in, the door hissing shut behind them. The charmeleon scurried ahead of them, calling into the seemingly empty lab.

"Char? Meleon? Char!"

"Yes, I'm _here_, Chad! What?"

A golden-blonde-haired woman appeared, dressed in a lab coat over a lavender spaghetti-strap top and denim cut-offs. She was drying her hands on a towel and looked frazzled, and even more so when she noticed the three young adults. 

"No, not more trainers!" she said in dismay. "It's seven in the morning and there's already eight of them—" 

"It's actually just me, um, Professor?"

"Yes, that's me, Professor Willow! I am _never_ doing this starter pokémon thing again, you hear me? Never! Let Birch do it if he wants, but not—did you say it was just one of you?"

"Er, yes," confirmed Nori, a bit taken aback. Johnny looked amused and Eve was shaking with suppressed laughter.

Prof. Willow sighed. "I'm sorry, it's just that they only sent nine pokémon…I didn't realize aspiring trainers would be this eager, so I'm going to have to set up a competency quiz if too many kids come. And the ones that are here are such brats! Real attitude problems on most of them…but say, aren't you a bit old to be a beginning trainer?"

"I'm a late starter."

"Well, whatever, you'd better go wait with the rest of them…sorry if it's a bit cramped, but they were annoying my pokémon, tapping on cages and rattling bars and things, so I had to restrict them all to that one room…"

Nori nodded, heading in the direction the Professor was gesturing.

The room wasn't especially cramped, but the three boys and two girls were making enough noise for ten. They seemed to be arguing loudly about something, probably the merits of each starter.

Johnny tapped her on the shoulder. "Listen, Nori, we're going to wait outside…Eve has some painkillers if you need 'em."

Nori smiled ruefully. "I probably will, after this. Hold on to 'em for me."

"Great, see ya."

The decibel level had fallen somewhat, but quickly picked up again as the two punks left the room. Nori glanced around and sat in an unoccupied armchair, appraising the other beginning trainers.

They all looked around twelve or thirteen years old, which she thought was good; ten seemed too young to her now.

"Hey, what're you doing here?"

Nori glanced at the speaker, a boy who was trying to look brave and/or imposing, but was failing miserably in her eyes. "I'm part of Team Rocket, and I'm here to steal all your pokémon," she answered, bored of these kids already.

"You can't be," said one of the girls, who was nervously twisting a strand of her aqua-blue hair around her finger. "Team Rocket's only in Kanto and Johto."

Nori pretended to sigh and lifted her hands in mock resignation. "Darn, you guys're way too smart for me. Okay, I'll level with you; I'm actually three treeckos and a machop standing on one another's shoulders underneath a trenchcoat."

"But you're not wearing—"

"I'm here to get a starter, you morons."

"Aren't you too o—"

"Do not finish that sentence; you are the third person who will have asked me that and I get _really_ tired of people asking me the same question over and over."

"Jeez, why are you so m—"

"Because I don't like you, or you, or you, or you and I've only just met you, but I don't like you either," Nori answered, looking at each in turn.

Thankfully, it was then that Prof. Willow appeared in the doorway and asked them to follow her.

~*~*~

They joined three more aspiring trainers in a room with three small enclosures: a grassy one with a tree in the center, one with a large pond, and an arid-looking one with a couple rocks and some cacti inside it. As they drew closer, it was apparent that each enclosure had three pokémon within; three each of each of the starters, treecko, mudkip and torchic. The other trainers watched them, enthralled, while Nori looked around for Prof. Willow. She reappeared with cardboard box under one arm, which she set down beside a computer that looked like it had been hastily relocated.

"All right, everyone, there's nine of you here, and it is past eight o'clock by my watch, so whoever arrives now is late. If I could get you all to line up beside my computer?"

There was a rush to be first in line, which Nori was not innocent of participating in. She was fifth in line, however, and hoped that they were not going to select their pokémon now, as she wanted a torchic rather desperately. A specific fire chick had caught her eye; it was bright-eyed and strong looking and its trio of crest feathers were tipped with black. 

Nori got her wish, as they were only lined up to register their names, provide their license numbers and receive a pokédex, a pokégear and another device. It was egg-shaped, though large enough to sit in the palm of one's hand comfortably, and a golden yellow color.

When they had all been registered, the Professor took a moment to explain the function of the tools they had received. 

"Your pokédex is a comprehensive source of information on every pokémon that exists or is rumored to exist. It can be used as an encyclopedia; it will tell you the levels at which pokémon usually learn attacks, the levels at which they evolve and the attacks they can learn by other means. In battle, it can tell you about the pokémon you are facing as well as provide approximate level and statistic calculations for both your own and the opponent's pokémon. You should not, of course, depend on these statistics; some things go beyond numbers. It can also show the locations specific pokémon are usually found.

"Your pokégear functions as a radio, a watch, a compass and as a telephone. It also served as a map until a few months ago; I will explain why it no longer has this function in a moment. With it, you can tune into all radio stations on the common range of frequencies, as well as contact others with its telephone function. You will notice a tag attached to your pokégear; on it is your own pokégear number. Share it with others and they will be able to contact you. It is advised that you memorize it. I have programmed my telephone number into it already, so you can contact me if you need to.

"The final device is quite new, recently developed by Devon Corporations, and is called the pokénav, short for pokémon navigator. It has a map function, can determine the level of your pokémons' pokéblock-related statistics, keeps track of the ribbons you win in pokémon contests and records the details of trainers you battle. Your own details have been programmed into your pokénav. Oh, and perhaps most useful of all…as long as your pokénav is in contact with your body, you can understand the speech of any pokémon.

"Now, if there are no further questions"—she paused meaningfully—"we can begin. My computer will randomly select someone to receive a pokémon until everyone has one. Is everyone ready?"

There was a murmur of assent as nine trainers hoped they would be first.

"The first name…Justin Triterra."

The boy in question walked quickly over to the treecko enclosure and selected one.

"Excellent choice. The next person is…"

And so it continued until four trainers, two girls and two boys had selected one treecko, two mudkips and one torchic, though the one that Nori had her eye on had not been taken. She was beginning to feel antsy, though, and hoped her name would be picked _soon_.

"Hans Mueller…"

__

Rats…

Nori had not been paying attention to the individual trainers, only what pokémon they selected, but something about the trainer who had just been called up caught her eye. He was quite tall, six feet at least, and had neatly trimmed blond hair. He was also wearing a Pokémon Technical Institute uniform, as were the two other trainers who had arrived after her. 

One had to be very rich, very talented or very lucky to study at the PTI. Graduates were said to have unrivaled knowledge of all things pokémon, and to be unparalleled in battle. It was, however, widely known but never talked about, that rarely did a PTI graduate ever become league champion. There was simply something missing…

Nori watched him select the last mudkip and realized she had been holding her breath again. She exhaled and resumed hoping that her name would be called.

"Noirsha Hunter…"

__

Yes!

She walked over to the torchic enclosure and offered a forearm to the torchic with the black-tipped crest. The fire chick gave her an appraising look, then hopped onto her forearm.

"Good choice," said Professor Willow, who gave her the torchic's pokéball. 

Nori recalled her new pokémon into her pokéball, which she clipped to her belt and returned to waiting with the other trainers.

When all nine of them had received their pokémon, Professor Willow presented them each with a 'newbie pack' of five pokéballs, five potions, two antidotes and two paralysis heals. The room was briefly filled with the low hum of nine digital storage devices converting objects into data. Nori felt a brief surge of resentment; how many of these kids would have just walked out of the house and bought their storage device, while she had squirreled away money for years before getting two, only to hide them until she needed them? If she needed them. Denial made you do weird things, sometimes.

~*~*~

The new trainers wandered outside, setting off in various directions. Nori had stowed her pokédex in one pocket, her pokégear was around her neck and her pokénav was clipped to her belt. She was walking toward the tree that Eve and Johnny were dozing under when someone tapped her on the shoulder. She turned to face them.

"Hi. Hans Mueller," he said, offering a hand. He had a very slight German accent.

"Oh, hi. Noirsha Hunter," she said, politely, returning the handshake.

"Am I correct in assuming that you are rather older than the children in there?" he asked, his tone scornful.

"Yes. I'm guessing you are, as well?"

He nodded. "I studied at PTI for longer than my cohorts, there"—he tilted his head in the direction of the two girls wearing PTI uniforms, who, Nori noted, were highly attractive—"and as a result, I reached nineteen years of age before deciding I had learned enough to go out training. I was heartened to see that I am not alone in my late beginnings."

"Indeed. How old are they?"

"Sixteen, I believe."

"I see."

"We are two of a similar make, you and I, Noirsha. I believe with our power combined, we could achieve anything," Hans said, smiling lightly but his smile not reaching his blue eyes.

"I am flattered, but I prefer to work alone," she said, still polite, but beginning to feel the itch of danger.

"Nori? Who's your friend?" said Johnny, appearing on her right.

Hans seemed to lose his voice for a moment, seeing Johnny, but regained it as Eve walked up on Nori's left.

"My name is Hans. Hans Mueller."

"And he's not my friend," said Nori, deciding she didn't like this guy at all.

"Very well," said Hans, his blue eyes cold. "But my offer still stands, if you decide you'd prefer more"—his eyes flicked toward Johnny—"…respectable company." He turned and rejoined the other former students and disappeared into the forest.

"Jeez. Creep city, eh?" said Eve.

"Tell me about it," agreed Nori.

"So, didn't you say you wanted to make Oldale Town by nightfall?" said Johnny, checking his watch.

"That's the plan," said Nori airily, studying her pokégear to determine which direction was due west.

"Okay, I guess we'd better get going, then."

"Agreed."

~*~*~*~

w00t! A new chapter, finally! And extra long (11 pages o.o), to make up for lost time. Heh. Anywho, just a note to all two of you (-_-;; ) who submitted characters: I liked both of them, and never fear, they WILL appear (I'm the poet who doesn't know it! Durr), soon, hopefully. Also, I'm still taking character submissions, so it's never too late! C'mon, I know I've got some creative people reading this. ::pokepoke::

Anywho, I'm very very sorry if I "copied" Professor Willow. At the time of writing this, I'm very sure I thought her up myself, but if I unwittingly created a character similar to someone else's, I apologize profusely and beg forgiveness, but I'm not changing her. I like her how she is, sorry. Also, if there are discrepancies between this and earlier chapters, please tell me so I can correct it depending on what I like better. X3

So yes. Review! Reviews make me want to write mooooooore. ^_^

Oh yes, and read the story "Wings of Flame" by Charpal, for it is good and the author asked me to plug it. Yay!


	6. Chapter 6: Students Of Different Forms

Chapter 6: Students of Different Forms

The day seemed warmer, brighter, more full of life. Dew sparkled on the leaves of plants, fell in a shower of diamonds if disturbed. The cerulean sky peeked through breaks in the leaves of trees: distant, elusive. Here and there a twitter of birdsong rose; quick, dark shapes darted through the underbrush. 

Nori wondered how she could have missed all this life, activity, beauty, before she got to the lab. Perhaps it was because her heart was lighter, ignoring its troubles for a brief while in the face of wonder. Even Eve and Johnny's pointless (to her, in any case) conversations seemed as background noise, forgotten and ignored. 

Her new torchic had been bred in what was ultimately a laboratory: a sterile, league-sponsored facility, all iron and porcelain, silver and white. She had probably never seen her parents. Now, Agni, named for an ancient deity of flame, could experience life fully.

The young torchic hopped along the path, investigating, exploring. She had already proven her worth against a couple of wurmple, the caterpillar-like pokémon succumbing rapidly to the embers of flame she exhaled. Nori watched her carefully, but she stayed in her trainer's sight, most of the time. Her distinctive tri-feather crest bobbed through the underbrush when the rest of the chick pokémon was not visible.

Nori smiled a bit, despite herself. How many trainers doomed their pokémon, hardly more than children themselves, to a life of servitude, only seeing the sun to eat or to participate in the violent combat that was the lifestyle of so many? She shivered slightly, remembering Hans and his PTI friends…the epitome of the uncaring trainer. They practiced on simulators for years, only to treat their living pokémon as robots. That was why scarcely, if ever, would a PTI trainer go on to become champion. Real trainers, masters, tried to impress upon them the importance of forming a relationship with one's pokémon, but it did no good. To most, after six, seven, eight years, it was a completely alien concept. And so they failed, as trainers, and then some as human beings. It was the simplest and most important of all values, the first one a future master would realize: 

__

A dog is a dog, a horse is a horse, but a pokémon…a pokémon is a person. 

Those who could not see this were doomed to failure.

Or perhaps worse.

~*~*~

Oldale Town was perhaps as unremarkable as it was possible for a town to be. No gym, no contest house, not even the laboratory of an under-appreciated researcher. Simply a pokémon center, a pokémart, and a cluster of houses. The population had probably only recently broken the double digits. It even failed to hold a shadow of foreboding as the sun, now quite low on the horizon, went down.

"It won't do to stay here any longer than we have to," said Nori as they made their way up the main street, which looked to be the only real street in the town.

"Agreed," said Johnny.

"I can't stand this place, it's like freaking suburbia, eh? Jeez, I think I'd rather live in the forest than someplace like this. And that's another thing—"

"Eve, would you give it a rest?" snapped Nori, without really thinking. She had been listening to the punk trainer's chatter all day and was losing control.

"Whatever, jeez, all I'm saying—"

Johnny cleared his throat noisily, which led to a period of silence that persisted until they entered the pokécenter. Eve started up again as soon as they cleared the sliding glass doors.

"Oh, it's about time, I'm dead tired. I'm gonna get me a hot meal, something with chicken—"

Nori focused on blocking the further speech as she handed the attendant Agni and Bitey's pokéballs. The fire chick had become quite tired out after running about most of the morning and fighting a number of different pokémon. Bitey had been called upon to save Agni from a particularly tough zigzagoon who managed to land what the pokédex monitor called a 'critical hit' on Agni, but had fled before he could be caught. 

Luckily, Eve and Johnny left to sit down in the small cafeteria, and Nori was left in peace as she waited for the nurse to return with her pokémon. 

She cast her gaze around the room, hoping for some variety, but all pokémon centers seemed to look the same, and follow the same layout. On the outside, red roof against white walls, sliding glass doors. On the inside, cafeteria and lounge to your left, trainer accommodations up the stairs to your right, and pokémon healing straight ahead.

The nurse returned presently with a tray with her pokéballs on it. After she had collected them, the nurse hurried away without a word, her cheery efficiency for the day evidently spent. Nori made her way toward the lounge, joining her two traveling partners. She flopped into a squishy armchair alongside Johnny, very tired after walking most of the day. When he directed her attention to the large sandwich, bag of potato chips and miniature carton of chocolate milk sitting untouched on the table in front of her, she weakly tried to refuse.

"No, I couldn't…I can't keep mooching off you guys. Besides, I'm not even that"—her stomach growled loudly—"hungry."

"Eh, your body betrays you. And besides, you're showing us around. Might as well get you something to eat once in a while so you don't die on us. Come on. Eat it, or I will."

"Fine, fine…" She was hard-pressed, once again, to stop herself from inhaling the precious food. Beside her, Johnny was eating some sort of rice dish daintily, with chopsticks. Eve was slightly less neat, but then again it can be difficult to eat long pasta with only a fork. A black ferret-like pokémon was sitting beside her, trying to lick some of the sauce off the side of her plate. Nori quickly swallowed a mouthful of turkey and lettuce. 

"Is that your quilava, Eve?"

"Hmm? Oh yeah, ol' firebum here. He's a brat," Eve answered, pushing the fire pokémon away from her plate.

"Cute."

"Yeah, I like your torchic better, though. Wanna trade, by any chance?"

"Nope."

"Damn. Ah well. He was my starter back in Johto. A few people had high hopes for me. I still feel bad about disappointing them."

"Oh really? What happened?"

"Eh, not much, really; I got sick of the whole thing, met Johnny, went punk and decided to go traveling. Johnny, though, all he's got is an arbok."

"A mean one, though," commented Johnny, scraping his styrofoam bowl for the last of the rice.

"There's a lot of pokémon that are only native to Hoenn, aren't there?"

"Loads. Well, no, there's actually quite a number in Gaiien…and a lot of pokémon from Johto and Kanto are there, too," said Eve.

"Gaiien? Where's that?" asked Nori, now started on the potato chips.

"Oh, it's this big-ass region to the…what was it, northeast of Hoenn?" said Eve.

"Southeast," corrected Johnny. "The government opened it for settlement a few years ago, but it was in the news recently because they were forming a League there, to regulate pokémon capture and such. Invited trainers from all over to apply to become gym leaders. They were going to set up eight gyms, as per usual, and of course, an elite four." 

"I saw some photos," said Eve. "It's pristine…amazing. Untouched. They had some old trees that were like five hundred feet tall, and wide enough around that you could build a city in the things."

"That's kind of odd, when you think about it. I mean, Johto and Hoenn are still pretty empty. It's only Kanto that's really populated, now…Saffron City hit half a million last year, I think it was. Why would they open up another region for development and settling?"

"They want to keep people spread out, isolated," said Johnny. "Easier to control."

"I see," said Nori, dropping out of the conversation as it turned to politics. _A new region… _Nori felt something stir in her blood as she thought about it. Rolling prairies, ancient forests, silent deserts…Where there roamed pokémon who had never seen human beings, free and full of life. Where the ancestral fear of the red and white prison had not been burned into their minds…

"Hoi, Nori," said Eve, breaking her out of her reverie, "what city's next on the agenda?"

"Petalburg…there's a gym there, but I've heard that it's actually the level five gym for the region."

"Might as well check it out," said Johnny, shrugging.

"Yeah," agreed Nori, "and then Rustboro after that. There's a gym there, as well."

"Rustboro?"

"Isn't that where—"

"Yeah, it said so on the—"

"Awesome, then our—oh, damn."

Nori looked back and forth between Johnny and Eve, a bit startled. "Um, what?"

"Er, nothing," said Eve, quickly.

"Nothing at all," said Johnny, looking at Nori pointedly over his sunglasses.

Nori shrugged and decided to drop it. "I see. Whatever."

~*~*~

Someone shook Lily awake. Though it was not as rough as it could have been, she told whomever it was to do something that cannot be put into print.

"Sheesh, you are _not_ nice! Well pardon me from trying to stop your keyboard from adhering to your face."

"What?" Lily looked up, blinking amber eyes sleepily. "Ben? Oh screw you, how'd you get in here?"

"When you didn't appear for that combat training class you were supposed to teach this morning," he said, pointedly, "Rick lent me the master key card so I could go and find you."

"Class? Oh f—" she said, glancing at the computer screen, glad that she had typed a hundred and twelve pages of 'N's with her cheek, covering up what she had been writing the night before. She hurriedly switched her monitor off, then stood, grabbing her uniform top off a nearby chair. She pulled it on over her white tank top, then grabbed her trainer belt off the table and hurried out of her room with Ben, buckling it as she walked.

"Gods, how late am I?" Lily asked, trying to sort out her long hair, combing it with her fingers.

"Uh, looks like about half an hour, now," Ben replied, checking his watch.

"Oh crap, Rick is going to eat my face," she said, grimacing as she pulled her hood forward.

~*~*~

They emerged from the labyrinth of tunnels at the training yard, a mostly flat stretch of ground with a whiteboard and a few benches stuck at one end of it. Lily noticed that the benches were occupied by a number of red- and gray-clad forms, not too many, though.

"Newbies?" she asked Ben.

"Yeah, most of 'em have been here a little while, the only really green ones are on the usual bench."

"First on the right, looking from the front."

"Precisely. Now where is—?"

"EVANS!! Did you collect Thrasher!?" came a roar from behind them.

"—Rick."

They both turned to face the gargantuan Executive of Offensive Strategy. Standing at six foot seven, he was a highly intimidating sight in army fatigues with a too-small uniform top pulled over his olive green tank top. The talk was that he was ex-military, had been a drill sergeant until he had killed a new recruit. No one knew if it was true or not, but it was highly useful in keeping their own new recruits in line.

"Yessir, I have her here now, sir," said Ben rapidly.

"Good. You are dismissed."

Ben hurried away, towards the makeshift classroom.

"Miss Thrasher," began Rick, folding his highly muscled arms, bare except for dark green wristbands, a clipboard held loosely in his right hand.

"Yessir?" she squeaked, her voice suddenly not quite functional.

"HAVE YOU ANY IDEA WHAT TIME IT IS?!"

Lily opened her eyes, noting the flock of taillow that had risen from a nearby tree, her ears ringing slightly. "Nosir, I left my watch on my dresser, sir."

"Explain yourself," Rick said dangerously.

"Well, sir, I stayed up too late, typing, and fell asleep on my keyboard, sir. The morning bell didn't wake me up, sir."

"Asleep at your computer…playing computer games, perhaps?"

"Nosir, I was typing up a report, sir. I have a hundred and twelve pages of 'N's as evidence, sir."

"Are you trying to be funny, admin?"

"Nosir, I am telling it like it is, sir…Please sir, your blood pressure, sir," she added, seeing a vein in his temple begin to twitch dangerously.

Rick exhaled strongly, massaging his temples with his fingers, his clipboard tucked under his right arm.

"Admin, listen to me," he said, eventually. "A leader requires respect from those under him—or her—in order to do his or her job. When you show up late, don't fulfill a commitment—it undermines your authority, and ultimately, my own. New recruits are bratty enough without their teachers sleeping in. _Do I make myself clear?_"

"Crystal, sir."

"Very well. You are dismissed."

Lily stepped back a pace and bowed, before heading off toward the 'classroom'. She ran a hand across her brow, thankful the verbal disciplining was over. As an admin, she only had to answer to a few people, but _damn_ were they frightening. Rick's military attitude would be comical if he didn't look capable of breaking someone in half.

She started to get nervous again as she neared the double row of benches. She was terrible at public speaking (in her opinion, anyway), and those damn hotheaded new guys were always so overeager to prove their worth…or to make the higher-ups look bad. Somehow they figured that doing that would help them get promoted. On the contrary, it was rather the opposite. This never stopped them, though.

Standing in front of the Team's most inexperienced members, Lily quickly looked over the twenty-odd men and a few women. _Kids, really, most of them,_ thought Lily to herself. _Especially those three._ She glanced at the three newest recruits, who looked highly uncomfortable in their new uniforms.

"Alright," she began, "as you all know, we're not exactly a _legal_ organization"—this elicited grins and a few chuckles from the group—"so we can't order pokédexes or anything. Even if you're trainers gone bad, you're not allowed to take your pokédex or pokégear with you on missions, as scanners in the cities would be able to record your movement. So what's wrong with having no pokédex? Well, the good news is that you're not staring at your hands instead of the battle, like some idiot ten-year-old. The bad news is that you're deprived of a valuable information tool. You have to guess at your opponent's skill level and either pokémon's current level of stamina. So basically, you're crippled in battle.

"But don't despair. Here at Team Magma, we will educate you so you can fight without your 'dex. And that is a powerful advantage. Questions? You there, in the red."

There were a few more grins, then the kid with his hand up spoke. "So you're telling us that you're going to make us have comprehensive knowledge of pokémon battling and the ability to judge strength by sight alone? Don't people go to PTI for _years_ to learn all that crap?" There was a murmur of assent from the rest of the group.

"Yes, and with good reason. _We_ just make you memorize a types match-up chart, teach you to tell the difference between a healthy and a fainted pokémon, and of course, how to fight dirty. But all for free. Kind of."

Lily looked around at the slightly incredulous faces of the new grunts. 

"Well? Let's get started!" she said, with mock cheerfulness.

~*~*~

There ya go. What didja think? Tell me in a review; they make me want to write more, you know. ^_^

Alright, in regards to the submitted characters…very nice, everyone, _all_ of them were very good, and should be appearing soon. There were a few that were rather more advanced in skill, though, so unfortunately we won't be seeing them for a little while. Now, as much as I'd like to have every single one of them take an important role, that can get quite confusing, and is rather difficult to write. As Nori's traveling partner situation will be changing in the next couple of chapters—oh dear, now I've said too much. But keep reading, everyone! You'll find out soon enough. ^_^


	7. Chapter 7: Hope, Dream

Chapter 7: Hope, Dream

"Zigzagoon, use your tackle attack!"

"Try to dodge it, Agni! Great, use Ember!"

The small, raccoon-like pokémon screeched in pain as a burst of tiny fireballs caught him full in the face. Agni took the opportunity to scratch him mercilessly with her small claws. The zigzagoon finally collapsed, beaten.

"Haha, great work, Agni! You beat 'em!" said Nori, praising her young starter.

" _Tor_—haha, take that!" said the fire pokémon happily, the translator kicking in late. She twirled in a sort of victory dance.

"Damn it, second time today," said the opposing trainer, a younger boy, in frustration as he recalled his unconscious pokémon. He threw a few crumpled bills to the ground at Nori's feet, then ran off down the road, toward Petalburg. The youngish trainer had been doubtful about battling Nori, but had become far more confident after he found out that she didn't have any badges. That hadn't stopped Agni from flattening his zigzagoon, however.

Nori bent down and retrieved the money from the road, tucking the bills into a pocket. This was her third win, the trainers on this road common and itching for battle. She had won them all, but every one of her opponents' pokémon had been newly caught. There wasn't much competition for Agni, who was practicing constantly on the wild pokémon they encountered. According to her pokédex, the fire chick was now around level ten. She would evolve soon, hopefully, as long as there were plenty of other trainers to fight.

The pokédex displayed information about both pokémon in a fight, but she noticed that a couple of the trainers she had fought paid far too much attention to the little screen, rather than the battle. Nori felt that their inattention was one of the reasons why they would lose so badly. She tried to only glance at it after her torchic had taken a hit, to confirm how much strength she had left, but it was tempting to study the screen and the information it would display: information about the species involved, probable learnt attacks, status data. But one's opponent could easily jump on a moment of inattention and attack unexpectedly. Nori was glad that Agni was smart enough to decide what to do, occasionally, even if her trainer hadn't ordered it. She just had to hope that this independence would not give way to reckless- or rebelliousness as the pokémon evolved.

"Yay! I'm getting really strong, aren't I, Nori? _Chi_!"

"You sure are, I bet you're going to evolve soon," said Nori, wondering why the translator had not changed Agni's last word, then realized it probably didn't mean anything anyway. She turned and glanced behind her; Eve and Johnny were talking quietly a small distance behind.

"What did you think, guys?" she called.

They both looked up quickly, almost startled-looking, then they smiled; Eve widely and Johnny's more subdued.

"Impressive," said Johnny.

"Yeah, totally awesome, mate," said Eve.

"Great, let's keep going. It's not much further to Petalburg," said Nori, turning and starting off again down the road, Agni hopping along beside her. 

There was something odd about the two punk trainers, now—they were constantly conversing in hushed tones far behind her so she couldn't hear. They seemed to be planning something, or arguing; she couldn't tell which. Maybe both. She decided to ignore it, but not knowing something always gave her an odd feeling, as if she was alone and being followed. 

"What do you think I'll evolve into?" asked Agni, breaking her out of her internal worries.

"Torchics, like you, evolve into combuskens," said Nori.

"_Chi_, what do they look like?"

"They…look like…" said Nori, as she found the appropriate entry on her pokédex, then picked up Agni, "this."

The fire chick chirped in wonder. "_Tor_—will I be able to fly?"

"No, sorry, I don't think you will," said Nori. "Your species is flightless."

"_Tor_. Well, I'm going to be the first one to do it!" Agni said, fluttering to the ground and continuing to bounce along. Her wings were too small to carry her into flight, but she could use them to slow a short descent to the ground or help her jump higher, or farther. She would lose the ability for the most part as a combusken, and completely as a blaziken. The members of this particular evolution chain were one of two to be incapable of flight, and the only birdlike pokémon that were not part flying type.

Nori glanced back at her two human companions, but they were back to talking quietly, topic unknown. She sighed and turned her attention back to the road and Agni.

~*~*~

They arrived in Petalburg City around mid-afternoon. It was small, a couple thousand people at best, significant only because of the gym that was located near its center. There were two lakes near the city, one to the northeast and the other to the southwest. Both lakes' beaches were crowded with people, probably tourists, children frolicking in the water and parents sunbathing on the shore. Every so often an airhorn or the whistle and shouts of a panicked lifeguard would cut across the summer air, startling the nervous and gaining the brief attention of the bored. Vendors sold everything from lemonade to sunscreen to beach toys, and there was at least one pokémon battle going on at any time.

Nori was challenged by two trainers, so high on victory they didn't care that she could've been a very experienced trainer, before she even reached the pokémon center. She crushed them both, breaking their winning streaks, though she could very well have lost to the second trainer if her opponent had not turned her attention to her pokédex screen at the wrong time. Agni was barely conscious by the time Nori managed to escape the rowdy trainers and rush to the pokémon center.

An hour later, Agni was completely healed and ready for action. A simple matter like battle fatigue or unconsciousness was easy for the nurses at the 'center to treat; fractures or serious wounds took a little longer to repair. It was completely within any pokémon nurse's abilities to treat the most grievous of injuries, as long as they had the right equipment. Sliced muscle, spinal injuries or even an evisceration could be crippling or deadly, but a certified pokémon medical doctor—they were technically doctors, but were referred to as nurses—could treat such injuries with machines that rebuilt injured tissue while the patient was in pokéball stasis. Once the injured pokémon was treated, they were restored to health with plenty of rest and energy transfers from the pokémon chansey, of which every center had several.

Nori felt slightly ill, looking at the recovery room, where miserable-looking pokémon with limbs in splints or covered in bandages lay on variously-sized beds, a few with a worried trainer watching them.

__

They all _should have their trainers by their bedsides,_ thought Nori, though her reasonable side protested. True, it was obviously boring and the pokémon were going to be fine anyway, but you had to look at their expressions. Loneliness. Boredom. While the trainer was off, probably battling or at the beach. Some relationship they'd have with their pokémon, later.

~*~*~

Nori walked toward the Petalburg Gym, unmistakable, with its large sliding glass doors and silvery-white exterior. Every gym was supposed to be unique in design, which wasn't immediately apparent from the outside. It looked square, just like the other gyms she had seen. Eve and Johnny had opted to visit the beach and browse, so she was by herself.

As she stepped through the doors, which opened automatically, it was immediately apparent that the gym leader, whoever they were, was new. Empty cardboard boxes were stacked at both sides of the foyer and behind the reception desk.

"Hello?" she called, "anybody home?"

There was a thumping noise to her left, and what sounded like muffled cursing. A tall man, dressed in dark gray pants with hair of a similar hue, emerged from the door and walked over to Nori, straightening his red jacket as he went. Odd, considering the warm weather.

"Hi there," he said, extending a hand, "I'm Norman, the gym leader."

Nori grasped his hand, shaking it firmly. "Noirsha, but I prefer Nori. I'm a trainer."

Norman glanced around. "Eh, excuse the mess…I just got here two days ago. I'm from Johto, replacing the old leader."

Nori nodded. "I see. You bring any family with you?"

"I did, my wife and son, though they're living in Littleroot Town, currently. My wife said something about my son helping the Professor who lives there, so I think he's started his trainer quest…"

"I just started a few days ago, myself."

"Oh, really? I actually thought…well, never mind. No shame in being a late starter, it's better to finish school first, in the long run."

Nori smiled, deciding she liked this leader. "I was wondering what level of gym this is," she said.

"Level five, I think…yes, level five. It's a bit silly, in my opinion…the way the gyms are set up, there's no orderly route for trainers to take, moving from the lowest to the highest level gyms. There's a lot of doubling back involved. Johto was better, there's one point where you have to retrace your steps, but it's all a big loop, really."

Nori nodded. "Okay, I guess I'll have to come back once I've won four badg—"

She was interrupted by the sliding doors opening, admitting a shorter, green-haired boy. He was very pale, she noticed as he walked up to them, skinny as well, but his hair and eyes were a similar, vibrant green. His white shirt and green pants were loose on him. He looked anemic, sickly.

"Hey Wally!" said Norman, seeing the boy. "What's up?"

"Hi Norman," Wally said. His eyes were a bit red, like he had been crying not too long ago. "My parents are making me move to Verdanturf Town, but I wanted to catch a pokémon before I leave."

"Oh, sure, Wally…Nori, would you accompany him?"

Nori nodded. "Sure."

"Okay…here, I'll let you borrow one of my pokémon, Wally. I think this pokémon should suffice," said Norman, taking a pokéball out of a pocket and handing it to the boy, who looked like he should have broken under its weight, like a paper-thin china bowl.

"Oh, and you'll need a pokéball, too," added Norman, fishing around in his pockets and coming up with one empty pokéball. "That's the only one I've got on me…if he needs more, would you lend him a few, Nori? I'll reimburse you, of course."

Nori smiled. "Absolutely." She felt incredibly sorry for Wally, although she wasn't entirely sure why.

~*~*~

Once outside, Wally interrogated her about how old she was, where she was from, how long she had been a trainer, among other things. He soaked up every detail like a sponge, like someone with a missing relative memorizing rumors. He was a dreamer, she could see it in his eyes; he was piecing together a dream for himself, planning out his trainer's quest, it seemed. Nori could not imagine how such a child would survive it; she was still rather surprised that when the sunlight hit him, he did not turn to dust and blow away.

"My brother was a trainer, you know," Wally said, quietly. "He's a lot older than me…he left a long time ago. I don't think he liked our parents much. We haven't seen him since he left. I wonder where he went…"

Nori shrugged. "I dunno…is it common for kids to disappear on their trainer quests? My friend has a brother who's missing."

"My mom says it happens because they join one of the Teams…but I don't believe it." Wally sighed. It was knowledge he had long come to terms with, but he still didn't want to believe it, it seemed.

They reached the outskirts of the city quickly, where the forest began. Nori decided that they would wander aimlessly until they found a pokémon.

"I don't really want just any pokémon, you know," Wally said, as they walked through the deciduous forest.

"What do you mean?" said Nori, afraid he wanted one of the phenomenally rare pokémon nicknamed 'shinies' by trainers, due to the sparkles that accompanied them into battle.

"I mean, like, you can catch a zigzagoon _anywhere_…I kind of wanted a pokémon that isn't as common. You know?"

"Oh, yeah, I get you. Well, I hope we get lucky, then, as all I've seen around here are—"

"_Rallllllll!!_"

"What was that?" asked Wally.

"I don't—huh?" Something white darted in front of Nori; she put a booted foot in its path and it tripped, sprawling on the forest floor. It tried to run again, but Nori blocked its escape path. She whipped out her pokédex.

"Is a ralts good enough for you, Wally?"

"Yup! Pokéball go!" said Wally, not knowing what pokémon Norman had given him.

A zigzagoon emerged, level five and male, according to her pokédex. The ralts was level four and female.

"Um, okay…use tackle, zigzagoon!" The blow hit the ralts hard; a half of her health was gone, according to the pokédex screen. The white pokémon turned toward the zigzagoon and growled. Wally's borrowed pokémon looked somewhat frightened, but responded to Wally's next command. 

"Um, use tackle again!" The second attack was not as powerful as the first, but the ralts' health was in the red, or critical zone. Feebly, she growled again.

"Um, Nori? Should I use a pokéball now?"

"Yeah, go for it," said Nori.

"Okay…pokéball go!" The red and white sphere struck the ralts, converting her to energy and drawing it inside. It wriggled once or twice before making a 'ping' sound, its center turning white. "Does…does that mean I caught it?" said Wally hesitantly.

"Sure does," Nori responded, smiling, seeing the pure joy on the boy's face as he retrieved the pokéball.

~*~*~

"So why do you have to move to Verdanturf?" Nori asked as they were walking back to Norman's Gym.

"It's my parents…they think the clear mountain air will help me become stronger. I didn't want to, but I think things will be all right now that I have Ralts." Wally smiled, and Nori fancied that he looked stronger, in spirit if not in body.

"That's the wonderful thing about pokémon," she said quietly. "They fix so many things…"

~*~*~

Nori felt it had done her heart good to help Wally catch his ralts, though she did feel a bit miffed that she didn't catch one herself. If you were patient enough to train it, a ralts would eventually evolve into a gardevoir, a very strong pokémon. 

In helping Wally, she had spent the remainder of the day, so all she could do was have her evening meal and listen to Eve and Johnny talk until she got sick of it and went to bed. _Speaking of Eve and Johnny, where are those two?_ she thought to herself.

Nori went to the attendant's desk in the pokécenter and asked for a room for one night. She slid her trainer's license toward the attendant, who looked it over.

"Noirsha Hunter? Oh, your friends left you a message…" The attendant pulled an orange envelope out from a stack of papers and handed it to her, then returned her trainer's license and gave her a key with her room number on it.

"Thanks," said Nori, leaving for the cafeteria.

~*~*~

__

To Nori, the letter read, _we weren't sure how we were supposed to handle it, because, frankly, we suck at good-byes, though ditching you like this probably isn't right. It's just that when we found out that Rustboro has the largest punk community in Hoenn, we knew that was going to be our last stop. We really appreciate you taking us to those few towns that we visited. We wish we could've seen you through to the end, we know we could've made you punk or league champion or both, but Rustboro is where we're going to stay. So if you come up there, make sure to drop us a line, okay? See you 'round, Eve and Johnny. _

Nori felt a mix of emotions. She was glad that they had left; no longer would she have to sit through endless discussions on subjects she had little interest in, but she missed them, in a way she couldn't explain. She also felt a bit resentful; her next stop was Rustboro, they could've waited until then…but then she realized that they really wouldn't have known that, being virtual tourists. She supposed she would have to find some new companions, now. The image of Hans Mueller appeared in her mind, which she immediately rejected. Who would _ever_ want to travel with that slimeball? She decided to deal with it in the morning; now, she needed to eat, and her tired body was crying for a rest…

~*~*~

Ha, there you go, new chapter…I think the other submitted characters will start appearing about now. =] I'm sorry if you liked the Eve and Johnny characters, but I was getting a bit tired of them. Eh, oh well…tell me how you feel in a review, I guess.

BTW, if anyone's unfamiliar with the R/S pokémon, just go here: http*//user.yagb.de/meowth346/ , but replace that asterisk (*) with a colon (:). That's a great site that has a pokédex where you can look up the pokémon in question, among many other things. Have fun!


	8. Chapter 8: Chance Meetings

Chapter 8: Chance Meetings

Nori was well away from Petalburg, even before the sun rose. The distance between Rustboro and Petalburg was greater than the distances she had previously traveled, and through a large forest to boot. She would have to be incredibly lucky to reach Rustboro in one day's worth of travel. 

The sun burned in fiery splendor as she reached the coast, its sea-salt breezes and raucous wingulls all too familiar to her. She saw—and fought—plenty of trainers, but the only sign of human habitation that she noticed was a cottage on the beach and a dock beyond. She wondered, briefly, who lived there, before turning her attention back to the Petalburg Woods.

The ancient trees loomed dark and forbidding to the north of her, leafy crowns stretching, groping for sunlight. The forest floor would be thick with the layered leaf litter of countless years, little sunlight piercing the tightly knit leaves. Nori remembered stories told of forest gods, some peaceful guardians only terrible when roused, others, monsters with an insatiable hunger for blood. She doubted that any such creature could remain hidden, considering the volume of trainers that passed through on any given day.

But still…one had to wonder…

~*~*~

Nori had stopped for a rest and a snack when the cries reached her.

"Ahhhh, help! Team Aqua attack! Team Aqua!"

She quickly slung her backpack over a shoulder and ran toward the shouts, Bitey trotting in her wake. The poochyena barked excitedly, his gray tufted tail held high. 

The source of the cries turned out to be a man in business attire, looking extremely out of place in the forest. He had his back to a tree and looked extremely frightened as a poochyena and its trainer, a Team Aqua grunt, advanced on him.

Nori recalled Bitey and picked a rock up off the forest floor. It was a little larger than a golf ball.

"Hey! Pirate wannabe!" she yelled, whipping the rock at the grunt. 

It struck him in the arm, and he cried out, probably more from surprise than pain. He turned his attention from the businessman to her.

"Stay out of this!" he yelled, trying to sound intimidating.

"Pick on someone with pokémon, eh? Then again, bullying the defenseless is what Team Aqua does best, isn't it?" she mocked, pulling Agni's pokéball off her belt.

"I'll have your pokémon for that!" the grunt snarled, his poochyena turning toward her, too.

"We'll see. Go, Agni!"

The torchic appeared in a flash of red light, immediately ready for battle.

"Poochyena, bite it!"

"Use Ember, and aim for the eyes!"

The small wolf-like pokémon charged at Agni, his jaws wide. He dodged the fireballs and bit the torchic savagely. Nori glanced at her pokédex; this poochyena was at a higher level than she had thought. Agni pecked and scratched wildly, but appeared to be growing weaker. _Damn it, I'll have to bring out Bitey…huh?_

Agni seemed to erupt in orange light, her opponent releasing his hold and backing away in confusion. When the glow subsided, Nori realized that her torchic had evolved. The combusken shot forward, releasing a barrage of kicks from her powerful hind legs at the dark wolf, who was too slow to dodge this more powerful opponent's attacks. With a final, punishing blow, the poochyena was launched into the air to fall motionless at his trainer's feet. The grunt stared in shock for a second or two before recalling his fallen pokémon. "Watch yourself, trainer," was all he said before he ran off along the path.

Nori did not have time to congratulate Agni before the businessman ran up to her, thanking her profusely.

"I don't know what I would've done, these papers are worth more than my job—"

"Whoa, slow down. What did that grunt want?"

"I have some important papers I was delivering to Rustboro, and somehow that grunt knew I had them. I'm not really sure why he'd want them at all, they're really—"

"So, why are you walking around in a business suit?" said Nori, raising an eyebrow.

"Hmm? Oh no, I'm traveling by car, I just stopped because I wanted to see if I could find a shroomish. I love that pokémon, you know—"

"Oh. I see."

"Hey, are you going to Rustboro?"

"Yeah, I was thinking of challenging the gym."

"Would you like a ride? It's quite a bit faster than walking, and a wonderful view."

"Absolutely," said Nori, without much hesitation. There weren't any pokémon she wanted to capture in the forest, and she figured her pokémon were more than tough enough for the gym leader.

"Great, it's just over here…I think."

Nori congratulated Agni as they walked, promising food and attention once they were in Rustboro. The fire chicken smiled happily, then converted to energy as Nori recalled her.

The businessman found his vehicle quickly, parked in a clearing. Nori goggled at it; it wasn't so much a car as it was a jump jet. She remembered seeing cars of a similar kind when she was much younger, on holiday in Goldenrod City in Johto. They were pretty common in the big cities, tearing along with blue anti-gravity boosters humming. They were only capable of a limited altitude, unlike this one, which could obviously go much higher. It would need to, to clear the forest's canopy.

Nori felt a sudden twinge of resentment as she hopped in the passenger's side; anti-grav vehicles were common enough, it was merely her inexperience with the real world that caused her this amazement. It was one of the things she hated most of all: being inexperienced or ignorant.

"Make sure to put on your seat belt," the businessman said, brightly. She complied, not wanting to end up a red splatter on the windshield by any means.

"Edward Notley," said an artificial voice, startling Nori. "Welcome."

"Edward Notley," the businessman repeated. "Thank you."

It seemed to be some sort of command code; the myriad of lights and dials in front of him lit up, and the vehicle went into a hover with a rhythmic thrum. 

"It's coded to my voice," Notley explained. "No one else can drive it. Safety reasons."

Nori nodded, then felt like her spine had been compressed to half its length as they shot upward. They cleared the roof of the forest, and Nori caught a glimpse of forest stretching in all directions before the machine shot forward.

"It can be kind of scary the first time," said Notley, misunderstanding Nori's shocked expression, "but it's really a lot of fun!"

~*~*~

Nori was never so glad to have her feet on solid ground.

She had thanked Mr. Notley, then staggered off to the pokécenter, where, god willing, she would pass out and/or die.

Neither of her wishes were fulfilled as she sat in the lounge and waited for her stomach to return to its proper location. She decided that she had a definite fear of being completely out of her own control. When the ground stopped swaying like the deck of a ship, she stood up slowly and shuffled over to the cafeteria. She treated her nausea by drinking three cans of ginger ale, which actually worked rather well. She had absolutely no patience left, however, for the two arguing teens who entered the caf' and sat down rather near to her.  
"They _are_ evil, damn you, they killed my parents!"

"That was only two of them, you can't know they're all evil—"

"Actually I can, and they are despicable people!"

"Look, just because some of them do horrible things doesn't mean—"

"Just shut up about what you don't underst—"

"Would you two SHUT UP!?" Nori roared angrily. "There are some of us trying to enjoy our ginger ale, thanks!"

They both glared at her. The girl looked around average height, had brown hair pulled back into a ponytail and wore a light blue T-shirt and black jeans. Abruptly, she stood up and left the cafeteria, the double doors swinging widely, marking her exit. The boy watched her leave, but shrugged and turned his attention to the table top when she had gone.  
"Uh, so…what was that about?" said Nori, an eyebrow raised.

"Er, I heard her talking about how evil Team Aqua is…it just bugs me. I dunno how we wandered in here, I don't even know her." He shrugged, twisting a spike of his black hair.

"I see. Why would it bother you? I thought it was the general consensus that Team Aqua—and Magma, for that matter—are deplorable bastards."

He mumbled something she didn't catch. 

"The way I see it…well, they do horrible things sometimes, but they're not exactly evil. They've just got this 'the end justifies the means' philosophy that's proven to be rather unpleasant for the rest of us. You can't see things in black and white, most of the time…" Nori shrugged, downing the last of her ginger ale.

The boy looked up at her, seemed to be studying her with his very blue eyes.

"So what's your name?"

"Huh? Oh, Dom. Dominic Jenkins."

"Noirsha Hunter, but I go by Nori. Nice t' meetcha."

"Yeah, nice to meet you, too…Are you a trainer?"

Nori nodded. "Yeah, not for very long, though. I was going up to challenge the gym leader."

"Oh really? I just beat her, she's a pushover. Uses rock types," he said, withdrawing a brass-colored badge from a pocket as evidence.

"Wonderful, I've got a fighting pokémon."

"Hey, after you get the badge, you're going to Dewford, right?"

"That's the plan."

"Need someone to go with?" he asked.

Nori looked him over, appraisingly. He was dressed in a yellow and green sleeveless shirt and jeans, looked to be a bit taller than she was, and looked pretty strong, especially in the arms.

"Yeah, sure. How old are you, anyway?"

"Fifteen."

"I'm seventeen. Welcome aboard, I guess."

~*~*~

Lily opened her eyes with some effort, only to close them again as sunlight burned through her pupils. She groaned, put her hands up to her face. What had happened, again? She turned to her side, hearing springs squeak under her weight. She kept one hand clamped over her eyes, shutting out the awful light, and felt around with the other. Sheets, blankets: it felt like her bed. There was no one beside her, which was extremely good. She relaxed, sat up—a mistake. Her head swam and she pressed her hands to her temples to stop the pounding. She rose, tentatively, and felt her way over to the window. She stubbed her toe on something sharp, had to bite back an obscenity. Finally, she found the string connected to the blinds and pulled it to the side, let go. There was the hiss of venetian blinds falling and then a thunk as it, presumably, hit the windowsill. She turned the plastic rod attached to the blinds until the angry red glare on the inside of her eyelids went away.

Lily opened her eyes carefully. Her room was in shadow, she saw as she looked around blearily. She heard a whine beside her and looked down to see red eyes looking at her.

"Oh, Fenrir…it's okay, I'm just really hung over." Her mouth felt sticky and old inside as she spoke. 

Fenrir whined again and looked around; Lily saw that three of her four pokémon were outside of their pokéballs. The red eyes in the corner were probably Malaclypse, and the maroon pair under her bed would be Phlox. She pushed her spiky bangs out of her face and wandered over to her closet-sized bathroom, Fenrir following, still whining with concern. 

After she had filled her sink with cold water and dunked her head in it, and washed her mouth out, she felt a lot better, more lucid. All she needed now was some coffee or chocolate or something and she'd be fine…

Lily was somewhat started by the knock on her door, which was immediately followed by barking: Malaclypse's carnivorous baritone and Phlox's soprano yipping. She would have told them to shut up, but she knew that yelling over the noise of the barking would make her headache unbearable. Fenrir seemed to sense what was needed, and snarled at the two, her angry tenor silencing them both. Phlox retreated back under Lily's bed but Malaclypse jumped up on top of her bed, his eyes defiant. Lily glared at the houndoom but didn't bother to order him off.

Lily glanced down, making sure she had appropriate clothing on—her dark gray tank top and boxer shorts, it would suffice—and hit the switch to the right of the door. It opened with a hiss, revealing Ben, missing his uniform top and carrying two large thermoses and a messenger bag.

"Wow, Lily," he said, "you're a mess. Want some coffee?"

Lily rubbed her eyes. "I agree and yes. Please."

"Great, can I come inside? It's easier to pour this stuff with a table handy, is all."

"Sure, but the wolves are out…"

"Malaclypse?" said Ben, visibly paling. "I think I'll stay out here, thanks."

"Suit yourself," said Lily, turning and grabbing a thermal mug off her desk. "Coffee please. So what are you doing, with all this?"

"Well," said Ben, as he held one of the thermoses over Lily's mug and slowly dispensed the coffee, "everybody in our unit—except me, of course—got really piss-ass drunk last night, so I figured you'd all need a visit from the Hangover Patrol. I won't even repeat some of the stuff you were telling me when I hauled you back to your room."

"I see. Gods…I didn't…?"

"No, nothing like that. You just had about twelve beers, and I figured you'd had enough, by then. You didn't…erm…do anything you'd regret, really, if you take my meaning. Courtney, on the other hand…" he grinned mischievously.

Lily smiled, weakly. "So what was that party about again?" she asked, sipping her drink.

"Maxie's birthday."

"Oh, that…christ, did I get him something?"

"Yes, we duct-taped it to the wall outside his door, remember?"

"Right, right…"

"What was it, anyway?"

"Hmm? Oh, a fire stone…I found it on that last mission we did, scouting around Mt. Chimney. I wanted to save it to use on Phlox, but…eh. Whatever."

"So what's up? You don't drink, usually," said Ben, concerned.

Lily sighed. "I dunno, I just…look, is there anyone around?"

Ben glanced down the corridors to both sides. "Not that I can see."

"Good…look, during my performance review…I wanted to tell Maximus something. He as good as gave me a chance to say so, but…I chickened out, gave him a generic answer. I've been feeling really stupid because of that, so I just…wanted to forget, you know? It's just…I just think that we're doing something wrong."

"Who? You and me?"

"No, I mean the whole team, the whole organization. I've been looking around for old books, for theories…I'm starting to feel that if we awaken the earth god, it's not going to be good."

"What do you mean?"

"Look…whenever people try to change the environment, it messes everything up. Remember the predator culls? There was a balance, and it was upset…and in the end, there was only death. Death for so many pokémon. The Ikeru Forest is only just recovering, now, and it's been what, twenty years? If we awaken Groudon…it'll have global effects. What if something goes wrong, and we have to stop Groudon? Capture, kill, anything to stop it. How many hundreds of years could it take for the world to recover?"

Ben looked at her for a long time before answering. "I really don't know…but whatever happens, the group—we're loyal to you. If you want to mutiny, go renegade—we're with you, all the way. Just give the word."

Lily shook her head. "Thanks…but I really, really hope it doesn't come to that."

~*~*~

"You wanted to see me, sir?"

Maximus turned in his crimson leather chair. Standing before him, once again, was Lillith. He marveled at her, how his only competent administrator—fine, one of the only; he had reversed his opinions on a couple of them after their performance reviews—could be so foolish as to voice her opinions in the hallway, where anyone could hear. True, no one knew about the hidden microphones except for his Executive of Espionage and second-in-command, and true, she _was_ hung over as hell, but really. There would be no repercussions, of course; her opinions may have opposed the Team philosophy and that grunt had suggested mutiny, but this was Lillith, after all, and the thoughts she had voiced troubled him still.

Maximus could still not believe how the orphan he had raised from infancy had grown; she stood five foot ten, lean and powerful, wearing the uniform intended for a senior male admin, with its double gray stripes on the pants, short cape and elongated horns on the hood. She was one of the team's most skilled trainers. There was something about her perpetually bored expression, with a few wisps of light purple hair framing her face, that intrigued him even now.

"Ah, Lillith…I wished to inform you that your next mission will not be for some time. I have received word that Team Aqua is mobilizing for a major mission sometime in the next few weeks. I want to send my best to stop them, and that's you and your unit. My second-in-command and I will also be accompanying you."

Lillith nodded, her face betraying little emotion as always.

"We believe it has something to do with Mt. Chimney, but—"

The door opened with an abrupt hiss. Lily turned to look, but it was immediately apparent who and entered. Only one person could get away with bursting into Maxie's office uninvited.

"Speak of the devil," Lily muttered, inaudible to all but herself.

She strode in, lordly, commanding, flanked by two white pokémon—one with red markings and the other with blue. A red cape fluttered out behind her, full-length, showing her superiority to the admins of the team. The cape, a pair of red gauntlets and a tank top emblazoned with the Team's symbol were where the similarities to the uniform ended. She wore black boots and black jeans also, her arms folded and expression angry. Mal Firestorm ignored Lily and walked over to her father, slamming something down on his desk.

Maximus could never understand why Lillith and Mal had never gotten along. Raised as sisters, though their ages differed by seven years, they seemed to have always hated one another. Then again, Mal hated everything, especially after…no, mustn't do to think about that. Not in front of these two. 

Maxie closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then opened them only to stare at the thing Mal had placed upon his desk.

~*~*~

w00t, three submitted characters appeared in zis chapter…could you tell who the third one was? Hehe, but don't worry, we'll see them again. Anywho, what didja think of that chapter? Tell me in a review!

BTW, I was reading over the older chapters, and I'm changing Archie's full name to Archibald…I mean, "Archivellus"? Sorry, I've been reading wayyyyyy too many novels set in the Roman/Byzantine era. Lordy lord…


	9. Chapter 9: Things To Consider

Chapter 9: Things to Consider

Nori faced the double doors of the Rustboro Gym. She had taken Agni for a little extra training on route 116, north of the city. It had boosted her confidence greatly to see the damage that her new combusken could do to her opponents. With her recently acquired fighting-type skills, Agni would be able to destroy the rock-type gym leader…as long as she wasn't hit by too many rock-type attacks. Even so, Nori couldn't help feeling nervous. Based on weakness and resistance, the match could go either way, so it would depend on how powerful the gym leader's pokémon were…

As she walked over to the reception desk, Nori noted how similar the interior of the gym was to Norman's gym. The only differences were the couches, trainers and lack of cardboard boxes. There were four trainers sitting around the room, all holding slips of paper and occupying various states of nervousness.

"'Scuse me, I'd like to register to fight the gym leader," Nori said, leaning against the receptionist's desk.

"Your trainer's license," said the woman without looking up, still facing her computer screen and typing rapidly.

Nori took out her license, black plastic with silver text, and placed it in the woman's outstretched hand.

The receptionist quickly filled out a form on the computer with Nori's personal information, printed it out and placed it on a stack of similar papers. She handed Nori back her license and a slip of paper marked with a number five, wordlessly, before going back to typing.

Nori wandered over to an unoccupied armchair and sat down, checking the time on her pokégear. She had arranged to meet Dom in the pokécenter at around two in the afternoon—she had figured that would be enough time to put in a bit of extra training and then win her badge. It was a quarter past twelve, now.

The time passed slowly as new trainers signed up and old trainers rose and entered the double doors to the left of the receptionist's desk, emerging a short time later with expressions of disappointment or triumph, but mainly the former. Finally, the last trainer exited the arena.

Nori stood up, surprised by the sudden jelly-like quality of her knees. She could feel the anxious attention of the other trainers on her, and was determined to get out of it as soon as possible. She pushed open the arena's double doors harder than she meant to, and the result was something of a dramatic entrance. It was a pity that no one was around to see it. Nori looked all around her, even up at the ceiling. The arena was empty.

"Um…hello?" she called into the stillness. There was no answer. _Well, whatever,_ she thought, _I'll just wait, I guess._

She had heard that every gym had a unique battle arena, especially suited for the type that the gym favored. It seemed to be true; this arena was littered with sand and rocks of different sizes.

Eventually, a girl appeared, emerging from a doorway at the other end of the arena. She was of an average height, wearing a blue blouse and skirt and pink tights. Her crow-black hair was pulled into pigtails with large pink ribbons, and Nori wondered how anyone could stand to dress like that every day, or any day, for that matter. She walked forward and stopped at the edge of the arena.

"Greetings," the girl, presumably the gym leader, said. "I am Roxanne, the leader of this gym. If you prevail over me in battle, I will award you with a badge. We will fight with two pokémon each." Her words were formal: clipped and precise, verging on robotic.

Nori nodded, also walking to the edge of her side of the battlefield. 

"Very well. We shall begin. Geodude!" she tossed a pokéball lightly onto the field. What appeared to be a floating head with arms, all made of rock, appeared.

"Go, Agni!" The combusken appeared with a cry and flexed her powerful limbs. Now that she had evolved, the black tips on her crest were more pronounced, and she had a few small black stripes here and there.

Nori took her pokédex out of her pocket and pointed its sensor at the unfolding battle. Sprites of both pokémon and hit point bars appeared on its screen. Agni was listed as being level eighteen, while Roxanne's geodude was level fourteen.

"Lovely. Agni, double kick!"

"Geodude, defense curl."

Agni delivered two swift, hard kicks to the geodude as he seemed to fold in on himself. Even so, the geodude's rocky skin visibly cracked under the impact and he dropped back, panting.

Roxanne frowned. "Tackle her, Geodude!"

"Give him another double kick, Agni!"

Agni was once again the swifter, and her second set of kicks sent the Geodude flying into a wall, leaving a dent in the concrete.

"Ha, great work, Agni!" 

Roxanne's haughty demeanor seemed to be crumbling as she recalled her Geodude.

"Don't start celebrating yet," she said, warningly. "Go, Nosepass!"

Nori stared at the bizarre pokémon for a second or two. She was a chunk of rock with stubby arms and legs, but her most prominent feature was her huge orange nose. Nori shook her head. As long as she was a rock-type, she was good to go.

"Another double kick, Agni."

"A rock tomb, Nosepass."

Agni kicked the odd pokémon twice, but it seemed to have less of an effect than it had had on the geodude. The nosepass raised her arms. Agni glanced around in worry as large rocks started to collect around her. Suddenly, the rocks flew toward the point at their center, which also happened to be Agni. The combusken tried to flip out of the way, but she wasn't fast enough. The technique lived up to its name as Agni was buried under the rocks.

There was stillness for a few agonizing moments. Images of Agni completely crushed flitted through Nori's mind like butterflies. To her relief, there was a scratching sound, and then a number of stones at the top of the pile fell, tumbling down the sides. Agni emerged, scraped, disheveled and covered in sand. With an enraged screech, she leapt at the nosepass and treated her opponent to a barrage of kicks and fireballs. 

When the onslaught had ceased, the nosepass toppled over, beaten.

Roxanne recalled her pokémon in disgust. She threw Nori a small drawstring bag, which she caught easily. 

"Great battle," Nori called.

Roxanne gave a derisive snort and left the arena the same way she came.

Nori shrugged. "Sore loser, I guess," she remarked before turning her attention to Agni.

"Are you okay, Agni? When all those rocks hit you I thought you were knocked out, for sure."

Agni grinned, a bit weakly. "It takes more than _that_ to take me down. _Ken._ What did she give you?"

Nori checked the bag. "Hmm, let's see…the badge, a technical machine…ooh, and money! What do you say to a victory lunch?"

"If it's food, I'm there," said Agni in agreement.

"Excellent. You're a great battler, Agni, I'm going to enjoy training you, I think."

"Likewise," Agni replied, laughing.

Nori grinned, and recalled the combusken into her pokéball.

~*~*~

Nori felt refreshed, her confidence restored, as she left the gym. She had one badge, so she was one-eighth of the way there, right? What was stopping her from collecting them all? The day seemed to be brighter and more free. Her good feeling was not to last, however…

She was exiting the pokémon center, having healed Agni, when a number of cries caught her attention. She raced up the street, following the shouting, dodging traffic and people. Near the outskirts of the city, she finally caught up with the source—that same incompetent businessman from before! Ed Notley's face lit up when he noticed her.

"Oh, it's you! You're that trainer from before! You know, you never told me your n—"

"It's Nori. Now what's the matter, _this time_?"

"Well, Nori, the problem is that I was going to my car to deliver some important goods to a man by the name of Captain Stern, but on the way that same Team Aqua grunt ambushed me and took them! I gave chase, but I stopped when he ran into the long grass."

"So where could he be?"

"He'd have to be in Rusturf Tunnel. It doesn't go anywhere, but there's only cliffs and ledges around this route."

"Sounds good…I imagine you'd like me to get your stuff back?"

"If you could," said Notley, plaintively. 

Nori sighed. "Alright." Sometimes she had _such_ a Good Samaritan streak, it wasn't even funny…

~*~*~

The grunt wasn't hard to track—he left a trail of stomped grass wherever he went. The grass grew thinner and thinner as she got close to a set of high, gray cliffs, but it was obvious where he would've had to go. It would be nearly impossible for anyone without climbing equipment to scale the cliffs, so the grunt had obviously entered the large cave at the cliff's foot. She speeded up, knowing that her quarry was close, but was hailed by a hysterical-looking old man.

He was short and white-bearded, but the strength of his youth was still apparent.

"Trainer! That Aqua grunt in there, he stole my pokémon!"

"I see. What sort of pokémon is it?"

"My darling Peeko is a wingull. Oh, tides, I hope she's alright…"

Nori nodded, a tad resentfully. "I'll get her back," she said, before turning and resuming her run. With all these people wanting favors…by the gods, she'd better be getting something in return.

~*~*~

The cave was cold and damp, and filled with some kind of unnatural fog. She had to make an effort not to walk into rocks or slip on water-slick pebbles. To her surprise, the grunt suddenly appeared out of the gloom, walking toward her and holding a struggling wingull.

"What the—who's there?"

"Remember me?" Nori called, taking Bitey's great ball off her belt. It was about time the little wolf saw some action.

"You! Oh, I am going to kick your ass, this time!" He fumbled for his one pokéball as he tried to keep a hold on Peeko.

"I'd love to see you try. Go, Bitey!"

"Go, poochyena!"

The two miniature wolves circled each other. They were about the same size, but Bitey's coat was fuller and glossier, while the grunt's poochyena had a thin, hunted look about it.

"Poochyena, tackle it!"

"Dodge and use your howl, Bitey."

Bitey dodged his opponent's attack for the most part, then bayed, chillingly.

"Try biting it, poochyena!"

"Tackle, Bitey!"

Nori's poochyena charged the grunt's head-on, hitting him powerfully, but the poochyena sunk its pointed teeth into Bitey's neck. They rolled on the cave floor, snarling and scratching, the battle dissolving into a free-for-all. Abruptly, the grunt's poochyena yelped loudly and made a whining, choking noise.

Nori glanced at her pokédex. Bitey's selection of attacks blinked as a new one, 'Poison Fang', appeared. 

__

The hell? Nori thought. _Poochyena doesn't learn Poison Fang…_

Bitey tossed the unconscious poochyena to the ground at its trainer's feet. 

The grunt swore and let go of Peeko, then tossed a small box to the ground at Nori's feet. 

"If you want it all so bad, take it!" he said, before recalling his beaten pokémon. He pushed past Nori and started running toward the exit. Nori let him go.

"Great work, Bitey! Where'd you learn that attack?"

"_Che_, I don't know. I just knew it." He panted excitedly. "Haha, I was so great! I showed that mangy old—"

"Peeko? PEEKO, you're safe!"

"Eh?"

The old man had suddenly appeared, and was holding his wingull, obviously overjoyed. He turned toward Nori.

"Trainer, I thank you! Call me Mr. Briney. I must repay you in some way…tell me, have you gone to the gym in Dewford Town, yet?"

"No, I haven't."

"It is a long way across the sea…it can be perilous, traveling by rowboat or pokémon. Would you care for a ride? I can take you to Dewford, and then to Slateport."

"Would you? That would be great!"

"Wonderful. If you would follow me back to the city?"

"Oh, I have some things I have to take care of, first, though…and is it alright if I bring a friend, so to speak?"

"A traveling companion? Of course. My boat is anchored at the docks, number fifteen, I believe. Meet me there."

Nori nodded. The old man started toward the exit at a surprising speed, Peeko flapping along beside him. Nori bent and lifted the box the grunt had left—looking inside, she saw that it was filled with computer disks. She wondered who or what they could possibly be for, but decided to hurry with her task of returning them. She was probably late to meet Dom, already.

~*~*~

Edward was overjoyed to see Nori as she came back to the city.

"Did you get the goods?"

"Yeah," she said, holding up the box.

"Great! Come with me, my boss wants to meet you."

As they walked, Nori wondered if this guy was always this, well, simple, or if he was just being friendly because she was undoubtedly younger than him and had pulled his arse out of the fire twice now.

"Here we are," Notley said eventually, "Devon Corporation!"

It was an enormous dark sand-colored building, with almost gothic architecture. Its imposing double doors lay under large stone arches, its floor paved with dark stone.

"The architecture is a bit of an inside joke," he explained, "it's meant to scare visiting competitors."

__

And everyone else, thought Nori. She didn't know much about Devon, only that it held a government-regulated monopoly on pokémon trainer supplies and equipment in Hoenn, which annoyed Silph to no end. Silph Corporation controlled Kanto and Johto as far as she knew. Briefly, she wondered who controlled that new region, Gaiien…

The inside of the building reeked of misplaced wealth. Black marble was everywhere, along with paintings and sculptures. An enormous crystalline chandelier hung from the ceiling. She followed Notley into a glass elevator, trying not to look at everything like some easily impressed country bumpkin. Edward swiped a key card through a slot and the elevator rose, quickly and smoothly. Nori had a feeling that they were going straight to the top floor.

"Normal employees aren't allowed to go up to the higher offices," Edward said, proudly. Nori wondered how he could've risen above assistant or paralegal.

"That floor is where they're developing new technologies," he said at one point. "If you ever find a fossil, those guys in the lab might be able to revive it for you," he said, laughing. Probably another inside joke.

Finally, the elevator doors opened to reveal a heavily furnished office. In the center was a massive table—oak, or mahogany, perhaps. It was polished to the extent of one being able to use its surface like a mirror. Its eight legs were skillfully carved in an old style: what appeared to be paws, gripping spheres that rested on the ground. Around it were enormous leather armchairs, all black, save for the one at the far end. It was a blood red. Nori guessed that this was where the president of the corporation and the executives met to discuss matters of importance—probably over lunch.

There was another set of double doors at the end of the room, behind the red armchair. These were made of very dark wood, also polished to perfection. The inlaid silver was mirror-bright.

"Wait out here just a moment, I'll tell the boss you're here," Notley said, before disappearing into the next room.

Nori went over to the nearest window. The walls were ceiling-to-floor windows, with a thick support column at regular intervals. She looked out onto the city: the Devon Corp. building towered over every other structure. She had to take a step back, looking down at the street below. The anti-grav vehicles looked like toys, and the drop was dizzying. If she were to somehow fall, she'd probably break her spine on a ledge on the way down…

"Nori? Come on in." Edward's voice broke her out of her reverie, and she followed him past the double doors.

The president's office was even more extravagant—she had been beginning to doubt it was possible—than the previous rooms she had seen. In each corner of the room was a silver tree in a gold-colored pot: she strongly suspected that these artificial plants were made entirely out of those precious metals. The carpet was a rich, plush ebony, the walls wood-paneled until halfway to the ceiling, where a mosaic of all the lands under the sky filled the rest. Deserts, mountains, forests, even an underwater scene. Light played across the fine glass and precious stones, making the eye want to believe it all was real. The president sat behind a huge, curving desk in another of those huge armchairs, smoking a cigar. He was an older man, hair gray and thinning, and was wearing an obviously very expensive dark gray suit. He watched Nori approach with an expression of mingled amusement and disdain.

"So, you're the one who saved Notley, here, not once but twice, indeed!"

"Yes sir, that's me."

"Team Aqua never bothered us before, or Magma, for that matter. It used to be perfectly safe to send out an executive to deliver important documents or disks. I'm going to have to organize armed guards, or perhaps trainer mercenaries. Ha!" he laughed and took a long drag out of his cigar. 

"In the meantime, I was hoping you could do me a favor. Not for free, of course!" he added, perhaps seeing Nori's very slight pained grimace. "I need you to deliver those disks to a man named Captain Stern in Slateport City. Also, I would be grateful if you would deliver this letter to a man named Steven Stone. I think he's in Dewford Town, but he does get around a lot, so I can't be sure."

Nori nodded. "Okay, I'll try to track him down." She took the letter from the president's outstretched hand.

"In return, I give you this," he said, placing what looked like a small black box on his desk, near to Nori. She picked it up and examined it. It was a box, essentially, with one open side. On the inside, there appeared to be circuitry, almost invisible due to the low light.

"Forgive my asking, but what is it, exactly?"

"It is a device that lengthens the life of a technical machine. The one you have is a prototype. You can get six or seven uses out of one TM with that. We're planning to release it onto the open market soon, but we have to get it down to maybe two or three uses, first. Even then, it's going to be pretty expensive." The president smiled, a bit unpleasantly.

Nori smiled. "Thanks, this'll be really useful."

"Also, I wanted to give you something else, not in return for anything, just a gift." He slid a key card on a short chain toward her. "That key card will give you access to most areas of the building. That way, if those goons down in the lab ever get that fossil reviver working, well—" Both the president and Edward started laughing.

__

Definitely an inside joke, thought Nori, trying to look politely amused.

~*~*~

"Oh, before you go," said Notley, as Nori left the building. She turned to face the businessman. "Listen, I just wanted to thank you personally for recovering those goods for me. I probably would've lost my job."

"It's no problem. I've already been reimbursed in full, I'd say." Nori hefted her now heavier pack as evidence. She hadn't had time to convert her new items into data.

"Heh, well, even so. I wanted to give you this pokémon." He took a pokéball from his pocket and handed it to her.

"It's a pokémon Devon created a long time ago, but there aren't many in existence. The only other person I know who has one is the president's son…"

"If you had a pokémon all this time, why didn't you defend yourself?" Nori asked.

"Well, the problem is that, in its current form, it's quite useless. I've been leveling it up, very slowly, for a while. One of the scientists gave it to me when I first joined Devon. I amused her, apparently." He shrugged. "Once you get it to evolve, though, it'll be unstoppable. Think magikarp to gyarados, I guess."

Nori pocketed the pokéball. "Hmm. Well, thanks a lot. I'm sure it'll serve me well."

"You know…I can't help feeling I know you from somewhere. Does the name Naedalya Theron mean anything to you?"

Nori shook her head. "No, never heard of her."

"Oh well. I guess I'm just being silly."

Nori shrugged. "Well, be seein' ya, I guess." She started walking away.

"Yeah…see you."

~*~*~

"You're lucky I didn't leave without you," said Dom, as Nori gave the nurse Bitey's great ball. 

"I know, I know, I'm sorry," said Nori, not sounding very contrite. "Why weren't you here when I came back and healed after getting my badge?"

"You got your badge? Great! But in any case, I was out buying trainer junk. You know."

"Yeah, I getcha."

"What happened, anyway?"

"It is a lengthy and involved but ultimately very boring tale, my good sir, but it culminates in my good self acquiring this group transport."

"Can you run that by me again, slower?"

"We're getting a ride to Dewford!" she said, brightly.

"Oh. 'Kay."

~*~*~

Mr. Briney welcomed Dom and Nori enthusiastically aboard his yacht. It was a small vessel, but large enough for a few people. Nori guessed that perhaps the old man had more regular passengers at one time, though it just seemed to be him and Peeko, now.

Once Nori and Dom were sure they had everything they needed—Dewford Town tended to be a bit isolated, so you couldn't buy much there—Briney skillfully piloted the craft out of the harbor and out into the open ocean. The boat traveled at a leisurely pace along the calm ocean, its motor propelling it faster than a small rental boat, but probably slower than Leviathan could have taken her. That was perfectly fine for her: riding a gyarados could get incredibly uncomfortable.

~*~*~

A while later, nearing dusk, Nori stood at the ship's prow, her elbows resting on the gunwale. Mr. Briney's life obviously revolved around sailing, and she could see why. There was something undeniably enjoyable about having the wind in your hair, and an ungoverned sense of freedom…

"So, having fun?"

Nori glanced toward Mr. Briney. "Yeah, a lot."

"Where's your friend?"

"Dom? I think he said he was going to have a nap down below."

Briney laughed good-naturedly. "I see. Tell me if I'm being too prying, but…you seem…lonely."

"Lonely? Well…that's true, actually."

"Tell me about it. Indulge an old man."

Nori was silent for a while. "I find…I find that I seem to drive people away."

"People come and go, like the tides. Eventually, everyone moves on. You're never alone when you've got your pokémon with you." Briney looked fondly at Peeko, perched on the main cabin's roof.

"Hey, who's driving the boat?" asked Nori, changing the subject.

"I put it on a sort of autopilot."

"Oh."

The silence lasted a little while, before Nori broke it.

"What are those rocks, there?" she pointed toward the west.

Black against the setting sun were huge spires of rock, curving inward slightly, resembling claws. At their center was a small hill or mountain, squat but still pointed.

"That is the Isle of Winter…no one really goes there, it always seems to be cold, despite it being summer and all." He spoke more quietly. "I've heard stories about that place…strange storms, lights in the water, voices…no one seems to know anything about it, except those on that island, there." He pointed at a tree-covered lump further to the south. "That's Froré Island. It's an odd place, split in two with the sea running through the middle. There's a small town, there. Everyone who lives there fishes for a living. They say that the island is protected by an ancient magic, the same one that makes the Isle to the north inaccessible."

"Magic?" said Nori, one eyebrow raised. "And here I was hoping it was some sort of bizarre natural force…"

"Oh, magic is quite real and quite potent. Anyone with pokémon should know that," said Mr. Briney, pointedly.

"Magic is everywhere. It's in the rocks and the trees, the sky and the ocean, and most of all, in pokémon. It's hidden in plain sight. You just have to know where to look." Briney's eyes twinkled merrily.

Nori still looked doubtful.

"We could go there, if you like," he said, gesturing at the islands.

Nori stared out at the strange rocks for a long time.

"No…another time, perhaps…"

~*~*~

Squee! My longest chapter yet! How's that for plot development, eh? Anywho, I'm going on holiday again (-_-;;) on Saturday, so don't expect any more chapters until I get back on the 16th. 

Oh yes—cookies to anyone who can guess what pokémon Edward gave to Nori. Freshly baked! Woo-oo!

Don't forget to review!


	10. Chapter 10: Voices

Chapter 10: Voices

__

…in the beginning, there was darkness…

Nori blinked, rubbed her eyes. Had she fallen asleep? On the edge of her mind, she remembered a voice…

No, that wasn't right. She sat up, looked around. The beach ran a short distance to the ocean, where the turquoise sea lapped gently at the shore. Across the thin channel was another island, Dewford's wayward sister. It was thickly forested with tall palms and other subtropical growths. Its high cliffs prevented access by sea. There were tourists further down the beach, easily recognized by their brightly colored beach umbrellas, but no one near her.

The bench she sat on was made of concrete, had left her with stiffness in her back. She had come down to the beach to wait for the gym to open. Dom had been more impatient and she had left him at the gym's entrance. He said wanted to be first in line. She must've fallen asleep in the sun.

There was something else…had she let her pokémon get some fresh air? At that moment, Bitey and Agni ran past, chasing a flock of ordinary geese. The birds probably needed to be in the water to make a proper takeoff. Neko was…? Nori glanced down and noticed the mostly pink ball of fur at her side. She stroked the skitty, marveling at how disoriented she could be immediately after waking up. She sighed and twisted one of her spiked bangs before checking the time on her pokégear. 10:37 glowed dimly on its screen.

__

What the hell?

Nori leaned forward quickly, disturbing Neko, who meowed in protest and repositioned herself. If that time was right…then she'd only been asleep for a few minutes. How did that work out? She felt like she had been asleep for hours. The gym wasn't even open yet. Now, that voice…

Or had it even been a voice? She hadn't so much heard it, as suddenly…_registered_ that those words were there, read them as they scrolled along behind her eyelids. Bizarre to say the very least…

She sat a moment, palms pressing into her eyes before making a decision. _If it's worth worrying about, it'll happen again._

She went down a mental checklist. Agni, Bitey, Neko, check…where was Levi? Oh, yes, he was out swimming in the straits. She'd know when he was back by the screaming. Wait, a fifth pokéball…oh, right. She hadn't even looked at what was in the pokéball that Edward had given her.

"Ah well, no time like the present," she muttered, tossing the pokéball onto the sand. What appeared in a burst of red light was quite unlike anything she'd ever seen.

It winked at her, no, blinked was the right word, as it only had one eye. The flash of red reminded her of a mightyena, just outside of the circle of firelight. It was blue metal, edged to make it look as if it had been hewn…but you couldn't cut metal like that, could you? The end opposite the eye was flat, and had three gray claws sticking out of it. The entire pokémon gave the most unsettling appearance; it was like a severed arm, floating in midair.

"_Bel_—who are you?" it asked, its one eye seeming to darken with…suspicion?

"My name is Nori," she answered, a bit unsettled. There was something distinctly… _artificial_ about this pokémon that worried her.

"I see. What happened to my previous trainer, Mister Notley? Have I been…traded?"

"Not so much traded as…gifted, I guess."

"I see. Are you a trainer?"

"Yes."

"Excellent. Will I at last attain perfection?"

"Perfection?" she repeated, confused.

"The road to perfection lies in evolution. Evolution is only attained through the gain of strength. Trainers allow pokémon to achieve new levels of strength quickly. Am I to be trained?"

"Well, yes, probably. I haven't looked at any of the data for you or your species yet, though." Nori dug in her pockets for her pokédex. It was like talking to a computer, an incredibly smart computer.

The pokédex beeped as she turned its electronic eye toward her new pokémon. Its stats and moves appeared on screen.

"So…you're a beldum. And…gender unknown? Weird…"

"All manufactured pokémon are genderless. The means for our creation lies in the hands of human beings. Scientists."

Nori blinked at the beldum. "Manufactured pokémon?" 

"Yes. Pokémon, such as voltorb, magnemite, porygon or beldum, are mechanical for the most part, and created by humans. Some can survive in the wild, near power plants or landfills. Others are distributed by humans."

"I see. So…you are obviously intelligent. Do you have emotions?"

"Yes. Emotion is simply a reaction to an event."

"Okay. I guess I'll have to learn more about you, Beldum…" Nori glanced at her pokédex, brought up the pokédex entry for beldum.

_Beldum,_ it read, _the iron ball pokémon. Floats by generating a magnetic force that repels that of the earth. Is thought to communicate with others of its kind using magnetic pulses. When resting, it anchors itself to rocks or trees using its claws._

"When resting, eh? I was starting to get the impression you were some kind of computer, Beldum."

"No, I am far superior."

"I can tell…let's see, steel and psychic type? Wow, you've only got two weaknesses, then…level nineteen…your stats are kind of pitiful, but you _are_ going to evolve…let's see, attacks learned…only take down? Jeez, for your sake, I hope you learn something new when you evolve."

"It is likely."

"Hmm, speaking of your evolved form, I wonder what it looks like…" she brought up the next entry. "Metang, eh? Eh, it looks kinda' silly…is there another form, I wonder?" she said, scrolling to the next pokémon.

She was silent a moment.

"What is your decision? Am I worthy of being trained?"

"Good lord," she managed to choke, "you are _so_ being trained. Right after I get this next badge."

~*~*~

Nori managed to collect her pokémon, except for Leviathan (mostly because she had no idea where he was) before turning her attention to Dewford's gym. She met Dom on his way out, who didn't hesitate to show off his new badge. It was shaped like a boxing glove and was mostly dark blue in color, but the 'thumb' of the glove was red.

"Hah! Easy. Brawly uses fighting types, my spoink wasted 'em."

"Heh, thanks for the info'. I don't think I've got any type advantages, though…ah well. Listen, after this I'm going to go look for that Steven guy, I'll meet you back on Mr. Briney's boat, 'kay?"

"Yeah, alright. I was thinking of catching a pokémon or two, so take your time. See ya."

"Yeah, 'bye."

Nori was relieved to see that there was only one other trainer in the lineup to fight the gym leader. She quickly registered with the receptionist before sitting down to wait.

The trainer who had been facing Brawly when she walked in and the one ahead of her had both walked out of the battle arena looking extremely dejected, which was never a good sign. When it was finally her turn, Nori started to wonder how she was going to pull this one off without a type advantage. True, Agni did know a flying-type attack and was a fighting-type herself, but she was feeling very doubtful about the whole situation.

She walked into the next room, the doors swinging shut behind her. She caught a glimpse of the walls in front of her before the entire area was immersed in darkness.

"The hell?" she said, startled.

Nori put her hands out and felt her way forward, feeling the walls open into various corridors.

"Crap, it's a maze," she muttered. She fumbled at her belt, her fingers brushing against the tops of her pokéballs until she found the one that felt right.

"Go, Bitey." The flash of red light illuminated the walls for a moment before fading.

"Huh? Why's it all dark?" Bitey asked. He was invisible save for his glowing red eyes.

"No idea. Can you show me the way to go?"

"Yeah, sure. Just follow me!" Bitey started trotting along, navigating through the maze easily. As a dark-type, he could see in complete darkness. Nori followed him, feeling clumsy as she kept a hand to the wall, not wanting to walk into something.

"There's a door here," Bitey said, eventually, stopping.

Nori groped for the handle, her hand sliding across the door's surface. She found it, opened the door quickly. She felt like she was almost blinded by the sudden light. She put a hand in front of her eyes, shielding them, while blinking as her eyes adjusted.

"Nice work. You've earned the privilege of battling me," came a voice. She saw that it belonged to a tall, muscular man; blue-haired and wearing an orange t-shirt and shorts of a shade similar to his hair.

He extended his hand; Nori clasped it and mimicked his efforts to crush her fingers.

"Name's Brawly. I'm the gym leader here."

"Noirsha Hunter. What was with the maze?" Nori asked, massaging her right hand.

"It was a test, really. If you can't get through it, I'd say you aren't ready to face me."

"I see. I've passed, then?"

"Easily. Shall we begin the battle? Two pokémon each."

"Sounds good." Nori glanced around as Brawly walked to his end of the arena. It was virtually identical to Roxanne's gym; similar sand and rocks littered the battlefield. Fighting-types relied wholly on their physical strength in battle, so the arena was probably decorated to suit their other abilities.

"Ready to battle?" called Brawly, holding a pokéball in one hand.

"Ready!" said Nori. She recalled Bitey and selected Agni's pokéball from her belt.

"Then, go, Machop!"

"Go, Agni!" Nori took her pokédex out of her pocket and pointed it at the battle. The device beeped and sprites of both pokémon appeared on-screen. It approximated the machop's level at seventeen, and Agni's at eighteen. _Good,_ thought Nori, _at least I have a bit of strength advantage._

"Agni, peck him! Go for the eyes!"

"Machop, use Bulk Up!"

The combusken leaped at her opponent, jabbing him mercilessly with her predatory beak. Brawly's machop managed to push her away, then glowed red. Nori's pokédex beeped and indicated an increase in both offensive and defensive abilities, but the pokémon's health points were lowered to fifty-five per cent.

"Peck it again, Agni!"

"Karate Chop!"

Agni attacked the machop again, reducing his stamina further, before he retaliated. The edge of the machop's hand caught Agni hard in the abdomen, knocking her flying. She landed on the sand and slid a few feet before she got back to her feet, her eyes starting to glow angrily. She was at about sixty per cent health, according to the pokédex. _Ouch,_ Nori thought.

"One more peck should finish him off," said Nori.

"Try to Karate Chop her again," said Brawly, but it was obvious that he knew his pokémon was about to lose.

The machop tried to defend himself, but was knocked unconscious under Agni's onslaught.

"Machop, return," said Brawly. "Looking impressive so far, trainer, but next up is Hariyama!"

The hariyama looked obese, his hide mostly yellow but dark gray around his neck and on his fists, making it look like he was wearing gloves. The two red circles on his cheeks and the two 'ears' on the very top of his head gave him the appearance of an extremely fat mutant pikachu. Despite his ridiculous appearance, Nori knew not to underestimate him, as gym leaders often saved their best pokémon for last.

"Hariyama, Bulk Up!"

"Agni, peck!"

Agni complied, pecking her new opponent. The hariyama tried to shield himself before simply punching Agni, sending her flying, once again. He glowed red, raising his stats.

Agni rose, panting slightly. She spat something that sounded like a curse, but the translator didn't seem to pick it up.

"Stay out of range of those fists, Agni!"

"Obviously," the combusken snapped angrily.

Nori blinked. "Um, try an Ember attack…"

"Bulk Up, again."

The combusken spat a number of fireballs at her opponent, but the attack didn't seem to affect him. Once again, he glowed red, increasing his strength further. 

"That won't work, trainer!" Brawly called. "Hariyama's ability gives him protection from fire and ice attacks!"

"Damn," said Nori. "Right, then, use your Double Kick, Agni!"

"Sand Attack, Hariyama!"

Agni rushed the hariyama again, kicking him powerfully before a cloud of sand hit her in the eyes. She screeched, birdlike, stopping to rub away the grit.

"Vital Throw!"

"Watch out!" yelled Nori. "Double Kick again, if you can!"

Brawly's hariyama seized Agni around her narrow waist, leapt into the air and sent her streaking downward. She crashed into a couple of rocks before sliding to a halt on the sand. Slowly, painfully, she rose, pure murder in her eyes. She attacked once more, kicking, pecking and scratching, before Hariyama struck her again, knocking her unconscious.

Nori recalled her beaten pokémon. _Oh crap…_ she thought. Who could she use now? Bitey was weak to fighting and Neko was far too inexperienced. She'd break out the big guns with Levi, but she didn't have him. That left only Beldum…but he—she left she needed to refer to the pokémon with a gender-specific pronoun, despite Beldum being genderless—only had one attack. Then again…he was stronger than Bitey and his defense stat was far higher, at least, according to the pokédex. Hariyama was at forty-five per cent health.

"Take a chance," she muttered to herself. "Go, Beldum!"

"Whoa, that's a weird pokémon," said Brawly.

"Yeah, he is," agreed Nori. "Use Take Down!"

"Use Arm Thrust!"

Beldum shot at the hariyama, slamming into it powerfully. The fighting pokémon fought back, punching it expertly.

"Dammit…Take Down again!"

"Arm Thrust, again!"

The attacks were repeated, with similar success. Nori bit her lip, looking at her pokédex screen. Hariyama and Beldum were both on their last legs. Beldum could probably finish his opponent off, but the recoil damage would knock him unconscious also. It would be a draw, but that would mean challenging Brawly _again_…

Her next command sounded extremely resigned. "Give it another Take Down…"

"I have a better idea," Beldum replied, before erupting in blue light.

Nori squinted against the blinding glare. She could barely make out the details, but the beldum seemed to be growing larger…

The light slowly dissipated, revealing the beldum's new form. He hovered in the air, two arms on a round central section. The arms looked very much like beldum had, before. Two eyes glowed from small indentations, separated by a metal spike. Two other, similar spikes grew out on both the left and right sides of the center.

"Metang…" said Nori, slightly in awe.

Metang raised an arm, pointing his claws at the hariyama. Nothing happened for a moment, prompting Brawly to begin to command another attack.

"Hariyama, finish it—what?"

The fighting pokémon was surrounded in a purple glow, and started rising in the air. He struggled uselessly and cried out as his direction abruptly reversed. When the cloud of sand cleared, Hariyama was out cold.

Nori rushed out onto the field as Brawly recalled his pokémon. She leapt on Metang and hugged him tightly.

"You won you won you won!" she chanted, excitedly. She was brought back to reality by a polite cough behind her.

"Er, congratulations," said Brawly, a bit awkwardly.

Nori blushed slightly, embarrassed at her uncharacteristic behavior and returned his handshake. It was far more gentle than the first, much to her relief. 

"Thanks." 

He held out a drawstring bag, which she took.

"You seem like an exceptional trainer. I'll be following your career with interest, Noirsha," he said, smiling. 

"Heh, I'll try to make sure you won't be wasting your time, then," Nori said, grinning.

She recalled Metang. As Brawly turned to leave, a sudden thought hit her.

"Hey…Brawly, do you know a man named Steven Stone?"

"Yeah, but who doesn't? He's an amazing trainer."

"Oh. Well, do you know where he is? I have this letter for him and—"

"Oh, playing messenger, are we? Anyway, he's in the Granite Cave to the northwest, last I heard."

"Thanks, I hope he's still there."

"Yeah, he gets around quite a lot."

"All right, 'bye then," said Nori, turning and heading for the double doors. 

"Be seein' ya. And don't worry, the lights are back on in there."

~*~*~

Maximus had seen a lot of horrible things in his lifetime, and this paled completely in comparison, but there was something about having your younger daughter place a severed human finger in front of you that gave the situation an entirely new spin.

He stared at it a moment before turning his gaze to Mal, his eyes wordlessly demanding an explanation.

"You said Team Aqua had no idea we were setting up a base outside of Lilycove," said Mal, her eyes hard. "_That_ is all that is left of Administrator Ishida."

Maximus watched her for a moment. The death of a team member did not bother her unduly, but if there was one thing Mal Firestorm could not tolerate it was incompetence. Traitors were another. 

He sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "They didn't, the last time I checked. What happened?"

"Ishida went into town on his break. He came back in a box, left at the door. Bits of him, at least. Team Aqua attacked in the morning. Though their forces are weak and undisciplined, they overwhelmed us through force of numbers and type advantage. They have probably converted the base to their own uses."

__

Good lord…have we fallen so far? thought Maximus. "What are your thoughts?"

"Either Ishida encountered Team Aqua members by chance and was interrogated, or we have a spy."

Maximus thought a moment. "I am more inclined to believe the former, given the circumstances, but I believe we should monitor all outgoing transmissions more carefully."

"May I suggest more hidden cameras outside?" said Mal, her voice barely audible.

He nodded. "Speak to the Executive about it."

Mal turned and walked toward the door, her zangoose pair silently following her. As they passed Lily, Mal shot her a look of hate, which Lily mirrored briefly before her face contorted in pain. Mal's shiny zangoose grinned evilly, fangs glistening, and held up a bloodstained claw. Mal smirked, before exiting the room.

Lily staggered forward to Maximus' desk, trying to remain upright and lean her weight on her uninjured leg. 

Maximus glanced wordlessly at the finger still on his desk, before taking a handkerchief out of his pocket and sweeping the severed digit into a wastebasket. He looked at Lily impassively, choosing to remain blind and impartial to the conflict between his adopted and biological daughters.

"Whose finger?" Lily managed to say. She had heard most of the exchange, save the beginning, due to her own inattention, and the end, due to lack of volume.

"Administrator Ishida."

"Tom? _Shit._ Sir." The 'sir' was an afterthought, something hastily remembered. 

"I fear we may be falling apart from the inside, Lillith. I fear I may even be losing the loyalty of those closest to me," Maximus said.

"You will always…have my loyalty, sir," she said. "Always." Her vision was getting out of focus…crap, he knew, didn't he? Microphones in the hallways…couldn't've hit an artery, could it? "Personal views…don't come into it."

"I am relieved, Lillith. Remember. Three weeks, or perhaps sooner. Make sure your squad is ready."

~*~*~

Ben was outside Maximus' office, waiting. "What did old Maxie want this t—sweet gods, what happened?"

Lily staggered and collapsed onto Ben, who held her tightly, supporting her. She wrapped her arms around his chest limply, a reflex action for the most part.

"Mal's…goddamn…zangoose," she said, her vision swimming.

"Gods…she gets them to put poison on their claws, doesn't she? Zangoose are immune to poisoning, anyway."

Lily nodded weakly. "'s slow acting…ver' painful…" She took a deep, shuddering breath. "I hate her…so much…"

"It's okay…she'll get what's coming to her, one day," said Ben quietly.

"Take me…infirm'ry…'fore I pass out…"

"Sure, just, um, let go for a second," he said, a bit awkwardly.

Lily obediently let her arms go limp, and Ben lifted her bodily without much trouble. She grunted in pain as her leg bent, as the wound started at her knee.

"Sorry," muttered Ben as he started off along the corridor.

"'s okay," Lily said, letting her head rest against his shoulder. Her right arm was limp across her stomach and her left hand had hooked onto the collar of his uniform—reflexively, he decided. He couldn't tell if she was even conscious anymore, anyway. It meant nothing. 

Nothing at all.

~*~*~

There, how's that, eh? I hope it was worth waiting for. Anyway, nice fresh cookies for everyone who guessed Beldum! Feebas was a good guess though, so anyone who guessed Feebas gets a gummi bear. ^_^

Anyway, please review as usual, it makes me want to write more, and if you notice any inconsistencies, _please_ point them out, I'm terrible at spotting them. x_x


	11. Chapter 11: Of The Earth

Chapter 11: Of The Earth

Ben stirred as the sunlight hit his face. He cast an irritated glare at the offending party, one of the three nurses currently working in the base, who had drawn the blinds covering in the window. The grunt in the bed across from him said "No mummy, it's Saturday," and rolled over.

He felt a slight pressure on his left hand and glanced at it. Lily's hand had somehow clasped his while he was sleeping, which was odd because she'd been unconscious for the last, oh, sixteen hours, if that clock was right. She had the same ghostly pallor that she had earlier, when he'd first brought her in; if she got any paler she'd probably start turning transparent. He carefully removed his hand from her grip, which was considerable, given her unresponsive state.

Ben stretched, feeling various oddly satisfying pops and snaps in his joints. His neck was extremely sore, but that was to be expected after falling asleep on a hard chair.

"Ah, Mister Evans," came a soothing baritone voice from somewhere on his right.

"Oh, hi, Doctor Leong. Listen, I know what you're going to say, doc, and the answer is n—"

"I humored you last night, Mister Evans, but my patience has run out."

Doctor Leong, the base's resident all-purpose M.D. was the only person Ben knew who could make a white lab coat, golf shirt and khakis look imposing. He peered down at Ben over the top of his glasses.

"But—"

"While I'm sure the young lady appreciates your devotion, I do not."

"But—"

"Get up and go have something to eat. You could do with a shave," he inhaled sharply, "and a bath, for that matter."

"Hey, there's no need for—" Ben began, standing up.

"I cannot run a proper medical facility with friends, family, or concerned boyfriends hanging around! You may return when she is conscious again!"

"I'll damn well—hold on, concerned boyfriend?" repeated Ben incredulously. "I'm not—we're not—I just—that is to say—oh, fark."

"_Goodbye,_ Mister Evans," said Leong, pushing him out the door and throwing his uniform top at him when he turned around. He heard the hiss of the door closing as he ripped it off his head, and stood staring at a closed door.

He eventually sighed and pulled the red sweater-like garment over his head, leaving the hood down.

"Doctors. Veritable tyrants, aren't they?"

Ben spun to face the source of the words. "Who the—? Oh, it's just _you_."

Ilthuriel smiled, though it didn't reach his eyes. They remained as cold and hard as ice-cooled amethyst. He reached up to stroke Midnight, who was perched on his shoulder. Ben had no idea why the black eevee preferred Ilthuriel while most other living things seemed to abhor his presence.

"Tell me…what happened to our most esteemed squad leader?"

Ben felt anger, probably irrational, bubble up suddenly inside him. "Why would you care, you weird f—"

He didn't know how it happened, one second he was launching into a verbal tirade, the next, he was a foot off the ground with his back against the wall, supported only by a hand against his neck.

"Oh dear, this isn't going _at all_ well. We are going to start over. I am going to let you down in a moment, and I am going to repeat my question. You will answer it in full, to my satisfaction, otherwise I will break your jaw. Then, since you will be unable to talk, I will be forced to interrogate Miss Thrasher herself. Have we reached an understanding?"

Ben felt his left arm twitch. He was receiving some mixed signals: his right leg wanted very much to kick Ilthuriel in the groin, but his larynx was complaining loudly and threatening to initiate a system shutdown.

"Yes," he squeaked, with the last of his air. Ilthuriel let him go and he crumpled to the ground, coughing.

"I will repeat my question. What ails Lillith?"

"One of Mal's zangeese…slashed her leg…claw was poisoned…" Ben wheezed through his bruised throat.

"I see. Thank you for your time." He kicked Ben in the stomach, hard, as he tried to rise, causing him to fall back to the floor. "A pleasure, as always." 

Ilthuriel walked off along the corridor, silently. Ilthuriel never laughed.

Ben waited until the sound of booted footsteps receded before staggering upright, one hand to the wall beside him and the other at his stomach. He coughed and spat blood, liquid red against the dirty steel of the corridor.

Gods…what was his problem, anyway? No, _his_, not Ilthuriel's. The dreadlocked grunt was obviously insane, anyone could tell that. Why did he, himself, suddenly decide to be, what? Irrational? Defensive? Whatever it was, it almost made him a hospital case. 

He massaged his bruised throat, feeling like the best thing he could do right now was go crawl into his room and die. Well, it wasn't quite his room, of course, as he shared it with three other grunts, but…

His stomach growled loudly, reminding him of another task.

__

Fine, food first, sleep second, he thought, sighing, beginning the laborious walk to his room…

~*~*~

__

She stood in a park, if you could call it that. Nothing but fenced-off asphalt with a couple of basketball hoops stuck at opposite ends, with benches on the sides. Once proudly white, the benches were now almost stripped of their original color and clothed in a patchwork of graffiti. 

Behind her came the sound of wings. She turned, seeing a cloud of birds, all black, spiral upward toward the gray sky, between the buildings. She watched them for a moment before realizing there was someone standing in front of her.

It was a woman, wearing robes of black silk. She was tall, her hair long and dark. Most strange about her were her wings; folded against her back now, but obviously large...and coal black. 

Her arm rose slowly, holding a perfect black feather, taken from one of her own wings, judging by the size. She seemed to be offering it.

"No," she heard herself say. "I don't want it."

~*~*~

"Lily? Lily."

Voices. Calling her back…

She opened her eyes, blinking against the sudden light. "Hmmwhat?" she heard herself say.

"How are you feeling?"

Lily blinked, the image of Doctor Leong coming into focus. "Um, fine…I guess."

"Excellent. You gave us quite a scare earlier, your boyfriend carrying you in, dripping blood everywhere."

"Boyfriend? No, Ben's just…my subordinate. A friend, at best."

Doctor Leong made a noncommittal noise as he wrote down something on his clipboard.

"So, can I leave soon?"

Leong leaned back in the chair, steepled his fingers. "Your injuries include a severe laceration starting at your knee joint and running down to just above your ankle, blood loss and poisoning. That sort of thing requires a _little_ bit more than a day to recover from."

Lily sighed. "Fine. How many days?"

"Three at least. We repaired the muscle and neutralized the poison, but I want to make sure it is healing properly before we let you go."

She slumped back down on her pillow. "Whatever."

"Glad to see you're not as stubborn as your boyfriend."

"He's _not_ my—wait, he stayed?"

"All night, I think. I kicked him out around seven this morning."

"Oh."

"The presence of visitors is not conductive to a proper medical environment, you see."

"Of course."

Lily folded her hands on top of her chest, staring at the ceiling. _This may require serious thought…_

The grunt in the bed across from her said, "Chardonnay, if you have it," then turned over.

~*~*~

"Gods, Ben, you're a mess."

Ben looked up from his bowl of ramen, clicked his chopsticks together irritably.

"Yeah, I know." His voice came out in a hoarse whisper.

"So, whose ass do I have to beat down?" asked Jake. It never occurred to Ben how severely his blue hair clashed with his uniform.

Ben's neck had purple handprint bruising across it, and a cut on his left cheekbone he hadn't been aware of until he saw himself in a mirror. Not visible at the moment was a round bruise on his abdomen, on the left side.

"Ilthuriel," he wheezed.

"Whoa, no can do there, bud. That bastard scares the crap outta me."

"Yeah, me too."

"What was his problem, anyway?"

"I think psychos like him can go around without needing a problem, Jake." He coughed and ate a few noodles.

"What's up, man? Seems like more's goin' on than you're lettin' show."

"Mm, I dunno," said Ben, clicking his chopsticks. "You hear about Lily?"

Jake raised an eyebrow, indicating that the change of subject was not lost on him. "Yeah, I heard Mal's zangoose, the shiny one, attacked her an' she's in the 'firmary now."

Ben nodded, turning his attention back to his food for a moment. "I brought her in after her leg was slashed. She didn't look good when the doctor made me leave."

"When was that?"

"This morning."

"Oh, so you hung around from the time you brought her in until then?"

"Yeah."

"I see," said Jake, a knowing smile on his face.

"What?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm serious, whatever you're thinking, it's not true, okay?" said Ben irritably. He coughed again.

"Oh, so whatever concern you feel for her is purely platonic, right?"

"Exactly."

Jake sighed, getting up. "Just keep telling yourself that, Ben. See ya." He slapped Ben on the shoulder, making him wince in pain.

He sighed and went back to his ramen.

~*~*~

Nori walked through the sand, her footprints a long line stretching out behind her. Bitey ran along the water, barking at seabirds, getting splashed by the waves. She cast a glance out to the sea every so often. Levi hadn't turned up yet. The adult gyarados was fully able to look after himself, but she was growing concerned that perhaps he had scared the wrong tourists…

Granite Cave was a short distance away from her now. Nearly everyone she had spoken to on the island had warned her about it; it was supposedly incredibly dark inside and the wild pokémon were notoriously territorial. 

The cave entrance was large, widened by years of exploring trainers. She peered inside, the sun making the bits of quartz in the cave's namesake rock shine like diamonds.

"What do you think, Bitey?"

"We should go in. This looks like a fun place!" Darkness never worried a dark pokémon.

"Yeah, let's go find Steven," agreed Nori, starting into the cave.

"You're not going in alone, are you?"

Nori jumped, startled. She whirled to face whoever it was who had spoken.

"Who's there?" she asked. There was a figure, silhouetted against the cave entrance. He stepped forward, features becoming more apparent. 

He was tall, looked to be around six feet or so. It was hard to tell in the low light, but he looked very tanned and dark-haired.

"Fernando Celeste," he said, extending a hand. 

"Er, Noirsha Hunter." She accepted the handshake.

"So, you're not going in there alone, are you?" he asked, folding his arms across his chest.  
"I've got my poochyena with me."

"I meant another human being."

"What's the difference?"

"Another person can summon help in the event of an emergency a bit more quickly."

"Ah. Right. Um, would you care to accompany me, then?"

"My pleasure," said Fernando, bowing graciously.

Nori suppressed a laugh. "Alright, have you been in here before?"

"Several times."  
"Lead the way, then," she said, gesturing.

He nodded, starting off into the cave. "Stay close," he said over his shoulder, "it's easy to get separated."

"Right."

"He's weird," remarked Bitey from somewhere near her feet.

"Yeah, I can tell."

"What's that?" asked Fernando.

"Nothing. Talking to my pokémon," replied Nori.

"I see," he said, doubtfully.

~*~*~

"So what are you here for?" he asked as they descended a metal ladder to a lower level.

"I've got a letter for some guy named Steven Stone, and I heard he was in here."

"Steven Stone? Are you kidding?"

"No…what's so great about him, anyway?"

"He's the best trainer in Hoenn, some people say. Virtually unbeatable. Who's the letter from?" he jumped off the ladder to the stone floor with a dull thud.

"The President of Devon Corporation, or at least, he gave it to me." She leaped to the ground also, landing more lightly. Bitey jumped off her shoulder. "Gods, it's dark down here." The only light was a dim shaft from the hole above them.

"That's easily fixed," he said. "Go, Esperanza." Red light flashed for a second, revealing a ralts, before it faded and left them in darkness again.

"Use Flash, Esper," said Fernando.

"_Ral_—You got it!"

There was a burst of blinding light, which Nori hastily shielded her eyes against. Beside her, Bitey was whining piteously. The light eventually dimmed, but didn't completely disappear. 

"Are you okay, Bitey?"

"There's little circles dancing in front of my eyes," he said, whining and trying to rub his face with a paw.

"Mine too, do you want to keep walking or would you like to go in your pokéball?"

"Mm, I think I'll walk. The spots are starting to go away."

"Great. Where to next, oh fearless leader?" said Nori, turning toward Fernando.

"Over here, I think…that's were the next ladder is, anyway."

"Right…hey, what's that?"

A small pokémon appeared, yellow with black ears and paws. Its red eyes glowed in the dim light.

"Oh that? It's a mawile…you know, I remember my mother telling me to watch out for those things, but I can't remember why…"

The mawile made small chirping noises as it inched closer to the group, which was odd as it didn't seem to have a mouth. Abruptly, it spun around, revealing a set of jaws that were longer than the rest of its body.

"…Did that jog your memory?" said Nori.

The mawile snapped at them, hissing dangerously.

"Run! I'll hold it off," said Fernando.

"No, actually, I think we'll both run, now."

"But—"

"Come on!"

Fernando recalled his ralts and ran after Nori, who had Bitey close behind her.

"I think the next ladder is around here somewhere," he said, catching up.

"Good, it better be really obvious," said Nori, letting him take the lead.

"It should be—" Fernando's sentence cut into a yell as he ran out onto open air, Nori and Bitey following with similar surprised screams.

~*~*~

Steven Stone looked up from the rocks he was examining.

"Did you hear that?"

"The screams of surprise or the wet thuds that followed?"

"Both. Let's check it out."

Steven stood up and started walking back through the cave, toward the ladder and the source of the noise. There was a sigh behind him and a metallic grinding noise as something else stood to follow him. He heard a groan as he neared the ladder.

"Ohh…_merde_."

It was two teenagers and a poochyena. They hadn't fallen far, but the young man was obviously the worst off—it looked like he had partially broken the descent of the girl, who may have in turn broken the fall of the poochyena. In any case, the miniature wolf was up and barking, seemingly unhurt and the girl had managed to stagger upright. The male was using the ladder to help pull himself up.

"Are you kids all right?" he asked.

"Sure…just peachy," groaned Fernando, rubbing his back.

"I think I bruised my pelvis…owie. I'm going to need a pillow for a few days, I think…"

"We fell down!" Bitey said, happily.

Steven had to smile at the insufferable nature of the poochyena. "Are you sure you're fine? Those ladders can be tough to climb if you're hurt."

"Fine, just—" Fernando turned to look at him. "Omigod! You're Steven Stone."

Steven smiled ruefully. "I was hoping you wouldn't notice. It's a pain, trying to just go to the shops and getting mobbed by people."

"Mister Stone? I've got a letter for you, let me dig it out," said Nori, crouching down and digging through her backpack. She eventually pulled out a slightly bent envelope. "There you go! It should be okay, I don't think I spilled anything on it."

"Oh, thank you," he said, taking the letter. "And just Steven, please. What's your name, by the way?"

"Oh, Noirsha Hunter, but I prefer Nori."

Nori studied him as he read the letter. He was quite tall, probably around six foot one or so. His hair was a light grayish blue, and—though it was hard to tell in the dim light—his eyes were light turquoise. He was dressed in typical hiking gear: boots, cargo pants, and a dark, long-sleeved collared shirt. It was impossible to tell exactly how old he was; he could've passed for twenty-five, fifty or any age in-between. His voice had a slight accent; it sounded somewhat cultured, aristocratic.

"What's taking so long? They _said_ they were all right. Oh, a letter. Typical."

Something metal, something huge appeared out of the gloom. It resembled a blue, four-legged metal spider; a central section with red eyes glaring out of hollows and four claw-tipped legs attached to it. Most odd about it was the gray steel X that seemed to be stuck between its eyes.

"A _metagross_," said Nori reverently. "Can I, can I just _touch_ it?"

Steven glanced up, smiling. "I wouldn't recommend it. Meta would probably rip your arm off."

"And eat it," the formidable pokémon added, snippily. 

"Oh. Okay, I guess I'll just have to wait for my metang to evolve, then."

"Pardon? You have a metang?" Steven folded the letter up and tucked it into his pocket. "I thought Devon had stopped production…"

"Er, he was a gift, from his guy named Ed Notley. I helped him twice, when Team Aqua was trying to steal some stuff from him."

"Ed? Edward Notley? Let me see, brown hair, about this high, likes shroomish?"

"Yeah, that's him."

"Hah! He's a wet idiot. I have no idea what Naedalya thought she was doing, giving him a beldum…in any case, better you than him. I see you even got it to evolve, lovely. And don't worry, it probably won't turn out like Meta, here…it takes them a few years in the company of other pokémon to develop a distinct personality."

"That's a relief," said Nori seriously. "Um, who's this Naedalya? Edward mentioned her, too."

"She was one of our researchers…specialized in legendary pokémon."

"Was?"

"Yes, she died almost six years ago…say, could you step a bit closer? You look…a bit…familiar."

"Six years ago, odd, that's when my…mother…"

"If the hair was a bit diff—" Steven stopped, seeing her expression change slightly. "No, I'm sorry, I was imagining it. Trick of the light. Listen, um, I need to thank you for delivering this letter, you've come a long way and I never make it easy to find me"—he dug in his pockets for something—"oh, here we go. My favorite TM." He held out a small cube with the number forty-seven stenciled onto one side. 

Nori took it and tucked it into her backpack. "Thanks."

"Now, do you two need help getting out at all?"

"Um—" she glanced at Fernando, who shook his head.

"It's okay, my ralts can teleport us outside."

"All right. Well, hopefully I'll see you again soon, Nori. Remember that you are in control of an exceptional power, no matter what pokémon you train." He smiled, kindly.

Nori grinned. "It was an honor meeting you, Steven," she said.

"The pleasure's all mine. Good luck."

~*~*~

Ralts had teleported them instantly to the mouth of the cave, and then to the pokémon center. Nori had been doubtful that she could make it all the way back to the 'center, and Fernando had admitted to the same after a bit of prodding.

"So, where're you off to?" asked Nori as they waited for their pokémon to be healed.

"Slateport, probably. It's tough to book passage on ferries or rent boats, though, lately."

"That's where I'm heading, too…this old guy, Mr. Briney is giving me and a friend a ride on his yacht, though."

"I see."

"I was wondering…want a ride? You can go your own way once we get to Slateport, of course."

Fernando studied her for a moment. "Yeah, sure, Noirsha."

She smiled. "Great. And just Nori will do."

"Sounds good. If you think of a short version of my name, let me know," he said, laughing.

~*~*~

Ha! I realized I haven't been answering many of the questions in the reviews I get, mostly because I keep forgetting. Sooooo, here's my responses to some of the questions (and to some comments, too ^_^):

Mal: TABITHA RULES ALL! I have every picture I could get of him saved off serebii.net. eeeeeeeeeee. *huggles tabitha dollie* ^.^ Erk, anyway…I'll keep that in mind, but if he does appear, he'll probably have his Japanese name (I think it's Kaga or something), as, y'know, Tabitha is kind of a girl's name. N'stuff. *looks nervously at the ground* Also, when I saw his sprite in the game, I thought he was a girl, initially. Eh heh. It helped me come up with Lily, if that means anything. ^_^;; Oh yeah, and Maxie was being soft to Mal? I thought that I was making him be like that to everybody. Oh well, I'll probably make him more irritable as the conflict with Team Aqua heats up. *hinthint* Mwa. :D

Koriku: Meep. You make some good points, there, yes, I feel chastised. *sniffle* ;_; You caught Rayquaza?! I haven't yet, I'm too weeeeeeeeak. Wahh. ;_;

MuRm: Well, when I fought Roxanne, I felt like she was kind of snobby and officious. *shrugs*

Julie: Hehe, one of my older pokémon characters *cough*Ancalagon*cough* and some other planned ones had names that were taken from Tolkien, but these ones aren't. Fenrir is a fearsome wolf from Norse mythology, and Ilthuriel is a slightly misspelled version of the name of an angel whose name means "the discovery of god". I'll let you decide what exactly that means and how it pertains to the story, if at all. *mysterious smile* :)

Archangel: Yeah, you're right about that…I see all those fundamentalist websites (especially the ones going after pokémon and other animé) and my blood just fuggin' boils.

Okay, anyways…review, please, like always! I got thirteen reviews for chapter nine, but only six for chapter 10, so I'm sad. *sniffle* ;__;

Oh yeah, one more thing: just in case I update and then FFnet goes down right after, check the new 'homepage' or whatever it is in my profile for the newest chapter. I'll be uploading them there, too, because I've got some friends who I want to read the story who absolutely hate FFnet in all its forms. o.O 


	12. Chapter 12: Come and Go

Chapter 12: Come and Go

Nori swore softly, staring out at the wide sea. Leviathan still hadn't appeared, and it had been nearly five hours since she last saw him. The wind gusted slightly, scattering sand grains and causing her hair to blow back. She selected a rock from the sand and hurled it, sending it arcing into the air. It hit the water with a dull _plunk_ and a splash. The sea remained calm even as the ripples spread outward. She sighed and started walking back toward Mr. Briney's boat.

~*~*~

There was a ruckus on deck as some of Dom's, Fernando's and Nori's pokémon played. Dom's electrike, Fernando's poochyena and Bitey were engaged in a friendly free-for-all, tussling in a whirl of black and green. Dom's spoink, Metang and Esperanza were talking quietly, and Fernando's chikorita was engaged in a discussion with Neko. Agni was sitting alone on one of the gunwales, spitting tiny fireballs into the sea, where they extinguished themselves with a hiss of steam. She didn't look especially happy.

"Back again, Nori? Did you find your gyarados?" asked Dom.

Fernando looked at Nori, taking his attention away from the pokémon as she hopped from the dock to the ship.

She shook her head. "Not a trace of him."

"That's very odd…gyarados are reputed to be very loyal," said Fernando.

"Where could he have gone?" asked Dom.

Nori shrugged. "I really have no idea, but I'm getting worried that maybe he got too close to one of those tourist beaches…" Levi's unspoken fate hung in the air.

"Don't worry, I'm sure we'd be hearing about it if that was the case," said Fernando. "Gyarados sightings around here are _events_." He paused. "But what we could do is talk to the coast patrol. They could tell us if there were any gyarados sightings today."

Nori nodded. "Okay, sounds good. Can you show me where to go?"

"Yeah, easy. You wanna come, Dom?"

"Sure. Better 'n sitting around here."

They recalled their pokémon one by one, but Nori stopped when she came to Agni's pokéball. 

"Hey, listen, you guys…I'll catch up. I need to talk to Agni," she said, quietly.

"Yeah, sure," said Dom.

"Esperanza mentioned something about your combusken being 'mean', just so you know."

"Right. I'd better see what's annoying her."

"Okay, we'll stop and wait somewhere for you if you take too long."

"Gotcha."

She watched the two male trainers depart before sidling over to Agni, casually leaning against the gunwale.

"You were really great in our match today," she said.

Agni snorted. "I was defeated. I don't call that good at all."

"You were defeated after fainting one of Brawly's pokémon and doing significant damage to the other. That's pretty good, especially considering that you didn't have much of a type advantage."

"_Chi._ You weren't so excited when _I_ evolved."

Nori studied the surface of the water. "On the outside, no. I normally don't go for large displays of emotion. I don't know what came over me, back in the gym. I assure you, I was immensely pleased when you evolved. I'm sorry if I made you feel…less special." She hugged the fire bird cautiously, not wanting to get a beak or a fireball in the eye.

Agni sighed. "Whatever." As Nori let go, she turned and touched her pokéball, recalling herself.

"I must apologize," said Metang, appearing from the shadows. She'd neglected to return him to his pokéball. "She asked me how the remainder of the battle went and I told her in detail. I did not realize she would be bothered by your reaction to my evolution."

Nori smiled slightly. "It's okay, it's not your fault and I don't blame you. I explained myself to her, but she has to decide how to feel, now. I'm hoping that she'll get over it, so we can all be friends again."

"I see. This is very complicated."

"Very." She paused a moment. "Hey, do you want a nickname? I've been thinking about your final form and I think 'Behemoth' would suit you well. It was the name of a massive creature in Judaic mythology.

"It works," said Behemoth, simply.

"…Great," said Nori, recalling him.

~*~*~ 

Nori caught up to Fernando and Dom after a short run.

"Good timing," remarked Fernando as Nori panted, slightly. "The coast patrol offices are just up here."

The low building was surrounded by boats and docks supported by pontoons, judging by how much they wiggled when stepped on. The roof was covered in satellite dishes, radio antennae and other bizarre meteorological instruments; strange metal devices that swayed, turned or rattled in the wind. On the outside, it appeared to have been built in islander fashion: wooden walls and a roof thatched with palm leaves. This was likely an outer shell, an attempt to make the building more…'authentic' in some way. They walked along the wooden planking that ringed the building, eventually finding a door.

Nori was rather disappointed when they entered the 'offices'. The foyer was a small, grubby room with what appeared to be a couple of shower curtains hung from the ceiling at the end opposite them. There was a small, rickety desk with paper stacked on it and a chair behind it in front of the screen. The concrete walls and floor were stained and cracked. There was a mechanical hum coming from somewhere, probably behind the curtains.

"Are you sure this is the place?" asked Dom.

"Well, not so much anymore," said Fernando. "I've never had to ask for help, just heard about what they can do."

The dark green shower curtains twitched and a young man, probably in his early twenties, appeared, sipping a can of some soft drink. He did a slight double-take as he noticed the three.

"Uh…hey. Can I help you?" he asked.

"Er, yeah…these are the…offices of the coast patrol, right?" asked Fernando.

"Yup. Why do you ask?"  
"Oh, well, it's kind of…decrepit."

The man sighed. "Yeah, I know…the government doesn't give us much funding, see, so we have to spend it all on the boats and the computers." He smirked slightly. "We don't get paid much either."

"Right, um, my gyarados went missing today—"  
"A runaway," said the man. It was meant to be a question but the inflection was lost in the face of his dismissive tone.

"What? No! He's well-trained but I was worried that maybe he went too close to a tourist beach and you guys had to capture or…kill him."

"Hmm, I don't remember seeing anything on the event log…let me check." He disappeared for a moment behind the screen, then returned with a long sheet of paper that dragged behind him. "Sorry, nothing about a gyarados here. You can look for yourself if you like, though."

"No, it's okay," said Nori, rather dejectedly. "We'll keep looking."

"Good luck," said the man, not sounding like he meant it.

~*~*~

"So what're you gonna do, Nori?" asked Dom as they walked slowly along the beach toward Mr. Briney's boat.

"Probably just leave. It doesn't matter, Levi was a wild pokémon, when all's said and done. I don't think a life of trainer battles was meant for him."

Fernando glanced at the ocean, blue and clear out into the distance. Abruptly, he stopped walking, staring at something.

"Huh?"

"What is it, Fer?"

"Can you see that weird dark shape there? Looks like it's coming closer to shore."

"Hey, yeah, that's odd," said Dom.

"Uh, guys? I think we'd better step back…"

The ensuing explosion of water and silt was accompanied by a deep bass roar that sounded bizarrely harmonized. Nori looked up to see a pair of gyarados, one dark blue and the other blood red, towering over her. Her heart leapt despite the fear that she was about to be turned into a red streak on the sand. The dark blue gyarados could only be Levi; the odds of another gyarados having that same unusual coloration here where they were uncommon were too high. Levi looked at her at shut his enormous maw, purring softly. She smiled, her hope confirmed. The red one lowered its head, allowing someone to jump off.

It was an older man, stomach hanging slightly over his blue swimming trunks. He walked awkwardly, his flippers churning the sand on the beach. He removed a scuba mask and breathing device from his face as he drew closer to the trainer trio.

"Good day," he said cheerfully. "I take it one of you is the trainer of this fine male gyarados?"

"Yeah, that would be me," said Nori, wringing water from her hair. The other two dripped silently.

"Oh, lovely, lovely. I was out for a swim with my darling Tiamat, this shining gyarados here, when we—that is, Tiamat and your gyarados—spotted each other. They were immediately smitten."

Her happiness at seeing Levi drained away. "I see."

"I was hoping that, perhaps, you would trade with me, so that the pair shall never be apart." There was something incredibly floral about all of his sentences.

"Oh, of course," she said. Too brightly. "If that's what Leviathan wants?" she looked up at her pokémon, trying to smile, look happy, look happy…

Leviathan seemed to frown, as much as he could given limited facial expression. His intrinsically dangerous, catlike eyes showed concern, perhaps…guilt? He glanced at Tiamat. The female gyarados crooned, softly. Pleading? 

He looked back to Nori and rumbled a "yes." 

Nori tried to smile. "I can't keep you against your will…"

The older man smiled, oblivious to Nori's façade. "Excellent! Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Humphrey Albertson. I am a retired lawyer, and my summer home is on this island."

"I'm Noirsha Hunter, a trainer from Sootopolis. I'm making the rounds and collecting badges, currently."

"Oh, how exciting! I have a passion for water pokémon, myself. Since I took the water element from your team, let me replace it with another that will serve you well." He smiled widely and handed her a net ball with as much ceremony as can be achieved in a bathing suit. 

"What's inside?" she asked, studying the greenish-blue capture device.

"A feebas."

"Seriously?" Nori stared a moment at Humphrey, some of her resentment lifting away. "This is…wonderful. I've always wanted a milotic." She removed Levi's dive ball from her belt and passed it to Mr. Albertson.

"Ah, thank you! I will be sure to send you an egg," he promised.

"A shiny one preferred, of course."

~*~*~

She waved farewell to Leviathan as he sunk beneath the waves, along with his lady friend and her trainer. She watched the sea even after they disappeared. 

__

People come and go…as do pokémon, I guess…

"A feebas?" said Dom jealously, halting her inner thought. "Why do you get given all the good pokémon, anyway?"

"Just lucky, I guess," said Nori, thinking to herself how laughable that statement actually was.

~*~*~

Slateport City was exactly as it was when she'd first been there—though that wasn't exactly a feat, it had only been a week since she arrived on the ferry from Mossdeep. Same bazaar, same buildings, same east-side docks. However…there was something about the city that annoyed her, she thought, as she walked toward the shipbuilding district. Something out of place. Whispers of warning like the flutter of a butterfly's wing, soft and then gone, borne away by the wind from the sea. Maybe she just didn't like large cities like this…

She noticed a large sign near one plant, large and opening out onto the sea. It had 'Stern Shipbuilding Co.' emblazoned on it in large blue letters. She wandered in through a huge, open door, emerging in a huge factory. The sound and scent of metal and wood being shaped and processed assailed her senses. Hurriedly, she ducked into what looked like a side office.

A middle-aged man with thinning brown hair dressed in casual attire looked up, startled, from the charts on a worktable.

"Er…who are you?"

"Um, I've got a package for Captain Stern…is he here?"

"Who's it from?"

"Devon Corporation…"

"Oh! The disks! Let's see, he's not here at the moment actually, he's over at the Oceanic Museum. You can give them to him there."

"Ah, okay…thanks."

~*~*~

The interior and exterior of the Oceanic Museum contrasted like black and white. While the outside was a drab white brick, the inside was filled with exhibits and murals, ringing and ringed by massive aquariums. The low light gave it all an ethereal, cave-like quality. There was little noise in spite of the many visitors; the building seemed to have a reverential quality to it.

Nori stopped for a moment to gaze at the inner tank. Apparently the outer aquarium held mostly pokémon and this one in the center held only ordinary animals. She watched a small shark swim by, blue-gray and sleek and so unlike the boxy sharpedo that shared certain traits with it.

Presently, she grew bored and decided to find Captain Stern. She spotted a set of stairs and climbed them. They led to more exhibits, mostly of ships and submarines, small, enclosed aquariums and the fenced-off but open tops of the larger ones from downstairs. This floor was oddly empty save for one man in a lab coat, whom she approached.

"Excuse me," she said, the man turning his attention to her, "but do you know where Captain Stern is?"

"Sure. I'm him. What can I do for you?" he said, placing his hands in the pockets of his coat. Stern was bespectacled and brown-haired, but looked younger than she'd expected.

"I've got some disks for you from Devon Corporation." Nori rummaged in her backpack. "Here you are," she said, handing him the small box.

"Oh, thank you! I've been waiting for these a long time. I understand there was some trouble with"—there was the disconcerting _byu_ of many electrical systems all shutting down at once, bathing the room in darkness—"…Team Aqua."

"Blackout?" said Nori, looking around.

"No, the aquarium lights are still on…"

There was the sound of running, booted feet in the stillness, followed by the lights sullenly flickering back on. 

"Huh. Speak of the devil," said Nori.

The two Team Aqua grunts leered at her threateningly, but gave up when she glared daggers back at them.

"Yo! Cap'n Stern, hand over the goods," said one, arms folded over his chest.

"Or else," said he other, cracking his knuckles.

"Goods? What goods? Ahahahaha," said Stern nervously, putting the little box behind his back.

"The ones you got be'ind ya," said the first grunt.

"Hand 'em over!"

"If you want those disks, you gotta' get past me, first," said Nori, stepping in front of Stern.

"Oh ho! Cocky, ain't she?"

"It ain't a quality I likes t' see in a girl. Too bad, I think. Don't cry when you lose, hun'. Go Carvanha!"

"Go Zubat!"

__

Two on two, eh? "Go Bitey and Behemoth!"

"Use your Leech Life on that poochyena!"

"Use Water Gun on the blue floaty thing!"

"Dodge and Poison Fang on the carvanha, and Confusion on that zubat!"

Bitey evaded the zubat's attack and clamped its jaws on the orange and blue piranha pokémon, partly submerged in one of the tanks. It hissed in pain and shot a stream of water at Behemoth, who seemed to shrug it off for the most part. Behemoth raised an arm and a green glow formed around the zubat. He telekinetically smashed it onto the floor, where it crumpled, unconscious.

"You bitch!" said the Aqua grunt, outraged. He recalled his fallen Zubat and lunged at Nori.

"What terrible behavior," remarked Behemoth, psychically tossing him across the room into the big aquarium.

Meanwhile, Bitey had let go of his opponent—only to discover he wasn't very good at swimming. He treaded water in a frantic doggie-paddle, and barely saw it coming when the carvanha headbutted him. Stunned, he slipped beneath the surface of the water.

"Bitey! Behemoth, see if you can get him out!" yelled Nori, her stomach gripped by fear. _How did you give rescue breathing to a pokémon, again…?_

Behemoth began to glide over, but stopped as light erupted from the tank. The grunt's carvanha swam around, trying to see what had happened—then was suddenly seized by a pair of gray-furred jaws. It was shaken roughly and then tossed at its trainer, striking the grunt in the chest. He managed to catch the fainted pokémon and return it.

The dark pokémon paddled easily to the side of the tank and got out, then shook himself vigorously, spraying water everywhere. He walked over to Nori, who hugged his neck despite the dampness. 

"_Wonderful_ job, Bitey," she said, scratching behind the mightyena's ears. "You too, Behemoth. Your psychic abilities are excellent."

"Mister Bailey, Mister Schell. What, pray tell, is taking so long?" a new voice echoed from the stairwell. It was a cultured baritone, ringing and very aristocratic, but every syllable awash in malice. A figure appeared. He was very tall but of average build, his hair covered by a blue bandanna but probably black, if the hair along his jaw line was any indication. He wore a dark blue-gray suit and pants with the Team Aqua symbol just below his chest, his pace lordly and commanding. His jacket was open slightly, revealing a necklace of steel chain links. The two grunts were standing at attention long before he reached them, one ignoring the growing pool of water around him.

"You have not yet answered my question, gentlemen."

"It was this trainer here, sir."

"She beat us in a pokémon battle."

"Indeed?" his gaze moved to Nori, focusing on her and forgetting about the grunts, like a hunting cat. Behemoth and Bitey moved in front of her, protectively, as he drew nearer, Bitey snarling and Behemoth deadly silent. 

He smiled at the two pokémon as if they were being extremely cute in some way. "Tell me, girl…why is it you felt compelled to fight for this man, whom you met only a few minutes ago?"

"Some sort of Good Samaritan instinct, I imagine. 'S not right to take things that don't belong to you," she added, with a bit of a smirk.

"Quite. I, Archibald, the Maelstrom, cannot expect a child to understand my lofty aims, after all…but indeed, I will be taking those disks. Now." The last word was sharp, commanding. 

She flinched involuntarily. "No."

Archie took an ultra ball out of his pocket. "Perhaps you failed to hear me, properl—"

There were screams from the lower level, and then the sounds of booted feet ascending the stairs. Ten Team Magma grunts assembled in front of the stairs, led by a female admin, virtually indiscernible from the rest of the group save for the single white stripe on each pant leg.

Archibald sighed. "It has always been so." He glanced at Nori. "I imagine we will meet again, young trainer."

"Go perform inappropriate acts on a growlithe," snarled Nori.

Archie winked at her, throwing down a smoke bomb at the same moment the Magma admin called out a command to attack.

Nori hastily recalled her pokémon. "Is there another way out?" She coughed, violently. "We've gotta get out of here!"

"Yeah, this way," said Stern, running into the smoke. Nori followed him.

They went down a hidden set of stairs and emerged on the outside of the building, where the air was refreshingly clear.

"Thanks a lot for helping me back there. I wasn't carrying any pokémon with me today," he said, ruefully. "I don't think I'll ever go without them, now."

"Eh, no problem…what was on those disks, anyway?"

"Design schematics for a new underwater vehicle. I'm not really sure why Team Aqua would want them, though."

"Maybe they're looking for something underwater? But then, couldn't they take just any old submarine?"

"Yeah, you'd think…this one is special because it can go very deep beneath the ocean, though."

"Hmm…I wonder," mused Nori. "It's probably a good idea to get somewhere safe, in case the Teams come looking for you, now that you've got the designs."

"That's a good idea. Well, thank you for helping me, I hope we'll meet again."

"Sure…"

~*~*~

"It was _simple_, Kagaki, and you simply allowed them to escape! You even had Archie within your grasp! You could have destroyed the primary resistive force to our plans! You let yourself be outwitted by Aqua _scum_. Get out of my sight."

Mal turned, cloak swishing, as the female admin fled the room. She glared at Maximus, who seemed unaffected by this _revolting_ display of incompetence. She marched closer to his desk.

"You don't care, do you?" she hissed.

"I am very…disappointed that Archibald is not yet dead," he said, his tone idle and dismissive. In truth, he was nearly as angry as his daughter. 

Maximus swirled the red wine in his glass. "It was a successful mission. Team Aqua was prevented from obtaining the plans for the submersible—"

"Mostly by some idiot unknown trainer," Mal snapped.

"—and now that Stern has them, we can wait until _he_ builds the vehicle, and then steal it. More cost-effective."

"Obviously, but—"

"Archibald has never been one to retry something that has not worked."

"…Whatever," said Mal, whirling and storming out of the room.

Maximus set the wine glass down, reached into a pocket. He extracted a key from an inner pocket of his coat and unlocked one of his desk drawers. He took out a rolled-up sheet of paper and spread it on his desk.

__

Oh yes, he thought to himself as he perused the geological survey, particularly one area circled in red ink. Let Archibald waste his time on mindless schemes…let Lillith doubt and wonder…soon would come…fulfillment.

~*~*~

Heh, I went shopping for pants today and I stopped at Toys R Us because the video games section exerts a gravitational force on me. ^_^;; Anywho, I was looking at the Nintendo player's guide for R/S and they had a gamefreak drawing of MAXIE!! (And Archie too, but we don't care :P) *swoons* Yes, so…um, I want that book. I have to make sure my details are right!! And plus it's got maps, which are verreh' nice, being as the sea routes are SO FRICKIN' HUGE in this game.

Anyway, I got fourteen reviews for the last chapter! (I luff you guys *sniffle* T.T) _That_ makes me feel special. ^_^ Anyway, tell me what you thought of the chapter everyone! Review! :D

Anyway, time for reviewer questions/comments!

StellarWind: METAGROSS OF DOOM!! Bahahaha~ XD

MuRm: Long-winded you say…hmm, I'd appreciate the opinions of more people on that. If I do have a problem with making my conversations too long, it may have something to do with me being naturally verbose. Meep. ^_^;; And you didn't like how I portrayed the Meta' family? How so? =/

Mal: Meep. Well, what I did was I used the Print Screen key and then pasted the image into PSP, where I edited it so I just had blocks of the pictures I wanted. If I only wanted a single picture, then I used View Source to find the addresses of the images, and then just viewed the one I wanted. Serebii's nasty right-click disabling doesn't work when you're viewing the image by itself. :D Oh, and Homura it is then! Mwahahah~

Nozomi&Hotaru: Hehe, Nori's mom's name is Marissa Hunter. But people keep thinking Nori has a resemblance to Naedalya…how strange… :}

Duke/Dew: Hehe, I _did_ mean cooled, but cold works as well. :D


	13. Chapter 13: Legend of the Wolf

Chapter 13: Legend of the Wolf

__

The moon rose, full and pale above the scabby trees. Noxious mud bubbled wetly, oozing fetid odors from the depths of the swamp. Pale, unblinking eyes stared out from the shadows. There was a splash—or perhaps, more accurately, a plup_—as a frog or some other amphibious creature landed in the mire._

She gazed up at the stars, failed to recall a night quite like this, when every star winked in the black velvet sky. She froze as a primal howl cut through the stillness, speaking to the ancient nerves at the base of her brain of red eyes, long teeth and rushing jaws. She ran, mud flying behind her as her feet pounded the less-than-hard earth. She heard them running, paws working as hard as she was, but gaining…

She whirled in a splash of mud, saw them; three pairs of crimson eyes, moonlight glinting off wet fangs, shaggy fur blacker than the night…

One lunged at her, snarling, and the night was filled with inhuman screams and torn fur…then the sizzle of burning flesh, flames burning blue in the swampy air—

Nori awoke and sat up rapidly, gasping for breath. She glanced around at the room like a frightened animal, her eyes telling her it was simply her cramped hotel room but her mind still awash in frighteningly vivid images. Almost reflexively she put a hand to her chest, feeling the fierce tattoo her heart was beating on the inside of her rib cage. She sat for some time, listening to the steady drumming of the rain and trying to get a hold of herself, before her pulse returned to normal.

"What's the matter with me?" she quietly asked of no one in particular. "It was just a stupid dream…an extremely vivid, but still stupid dream…"

She raised her hands and saw that they were shaking. Disgusted, she clenched them tightly and looked at the bedside clock. The glowing display read 4:32 AM.

"Whatever. As good a time as any to get up," she told herself, marching into the tiny bathroom and shutting the door harder than was needed.

Bitey watched her as she went, her passage illuminated by a flash of lightning from the storm outside. Thunder boomed as she slammed the door.

"AND YOU CAN STOP BEING SO DAMN CLICHÉD!! Idiot universe…" 

Bitey chuckled slightly at her muffled yell. It would probably be a good idea to leave her alone for a little while. He put his head back down, dark fur melding with the shadows, and closed his scarlet eyes.

~*~*~

Marshore Town was built on the edge of a wide depression in the land, essentially a lake with a web of path-like swampland weaving across it. There were several bridges built to span the area, however, so if it were not for the pokémon found within, the putrid marshes would see little, if any, human traffic.

The town itself was a collection of hotels, a few privately owned homes and the obligatory pokécenter and pokémart. It was incredible good fortune that the prevailing winds blew toward the northeast, taking the stench of the bogs away from civilization in general. Otherwise, the town might never have been built. Few people could stand the smell for very long.

The only thing that made Marshore Town worth considering at all was the Trick House. Owned by a highly eccentric and extremely wealthy gentleman, the House was floor after floor of mazes, traps and puzzles, with prizes waiting for whoever could get through the entire thing. It was apparently not especially difficult, and the prizes weren't all that great, either. However, once a month, there was a Trick House Challenge, where trainers had to race against each other for various incredible prizes. The month before, a girl had walked away with a complete set of secret base decorations. This month, it was rumored to be a massive supply of pokéblocks.

"So, remind me, Nori," said Dom, rubbing his eyes and watching her wolf down a plate of pancakes, "why are we doing this again?"

"I need blue- or indigo-colored pokéblocks to make Feebas evolve."

"Oh. Right," said Dom, poking at his cereal noncommittally. "Why don't you just make the pokéblocks yourself? You've got a _lot_ of different berries…"

"True, but it's very time-consuming. If I can win, this'll be a lot easier."

"Aww, come on, Nori…I wanna' get to Mauville! I'm itching for a gym battle! Fer agrees with me, don'cha buddy?"

"Wstfgl," said Fernando from somewhere in his cornflakes.

"See? And that's another thing," said Dom, completely ignoring Fernando's unresponsive state, "you wake us up way too early. I'm a growing trainer, I need my rest. I'm going to be all short and stunted!"

Nori struggled to keep a straight face. "Alright, I understand where you're coming from with the gym thing, but I'm still waking you up at six AM every morning. Get over it."

Dom nodded and stared gloomily at his cereal.

~*~*~

The Trick House was very tall and brightly painted, a rainbow of fluorescent color. There were several large doors in its base, the better to allow a multitude of people rapid entry. Their interiors yawned black, like some sort of cavern.

The trio stood near the front of the crowd, nearest the doors due to their early start, but were forced to wait for what seemed like a geological age as people added to the huge queue. A metal fence separated the House-goers from the doors. The large wall-mounted clock ticked painfully slowly, but eventually reached the appointed time. When it did, the buzzing crowd slowly grew quiet. 

A man eventually appeared onstage, elaborately mustachioed and clad in a suit of shockingly bright, violently clashing colors. It made Nori's eyes water just to look at him. When he spoke, his deep voice carried over the gathering. She didn't pay him much attention—his speech was a long, flowery version of what she already knew: the house was a maze of problems and pitfalls, and the first one to the end would win an amazing prize. She fidgeted impatiently, shifting her weight from one foot to the other as he droned on.

Finally, the gates in the long fence sprang open. The mob surged forward, metal fencing becoming meaningless as everyone raced everyone else, all desperate for the prize. With the crowd's roar in their ears, Nori, Dom and Fernando chose a door and ran into the maze.

It became eerily quiet as they raced along the corridors and through doors in the walls. Where there was once a low hum from the sheer number of people, a ghostly silence pervaded. Nori wondered if people were giving up, or if it was just the size of the building.

The walls of the maze were an irritating yellow with green fronds painted on them, like seaweed. They didn't reach the ceiling, which allowed sound to travel over them. Occasionally they heard a voice or snatches of conversation, but most of the time there was only the sound of their increasingly more ragged breathing, and their feet hitting the blue-tiled floor. There were rows of lights hung from the warehouse-like ceiling, which made Nori feel apprehensive, though she couldn't think why.

They had been making good time before, but the trio began to run into more and more dead ends. Nori's frustration level was growing by the second. They rounded a corner—nope, another miss.

"Gods_dammit_," she said, infuriated, kicking the wall, hard. Her stress vanished as the wall swung open, revealing a set of stairs. "…Oh."

"Cool," said Dom, brightly. "You should get mad more often, Nori," he remarked, and dodged a swing from her.

"Well, whatever," Nori said, feeling a bit embarrassed. "Let's go." 

The second floor somehow contained a large waterfall that turned into a wide, fast-flowing stream. Several long but frighteningly narrow logs bridged the gap in the floor where the water flowed. Ahead of them, a group of girls were walking carefully across one log. There was an abrupt, sickening snap as the log broke and the girls tumbled into the water with variously pitched screams.

"_Crap,_" said Dom, with feeling.

"Okay…how do we know which log to walk on?" asked Nori of no one in particular.

"Let's all pick a different log…that way, if it's going to break, only one of us is out of the running," said Fernando.

Nori sighed. "Yeah, that's probably the best option…if I'm out, one of you guys better lend me some 'blocks."

"Hey, no problem. What're friends for, eh?" said Dom, smiling.

"Easy. I don't have any use for 'em, anyway."

The trio chose three logs that were side-by-side. With hesitant, careful steps, they started to make their way across. 

Nori had her arms all the way out for balance, and was staring fixedly at the wood in front of her boots. _Don't look down, just don't look down_…

Her stomach fell as she heard cracking noises. Looking around desperately, she realized it was her log that was about to fall. As it broke under her weight, she tried to leap onto a nearby log, but missed—only to have one arm seized by someone. She looked up, tearing her eyes away from the water below. Fernando was crouched on his log, gripping her arm in both hands.

"I don't think this log will hold both our weights!" he warned.

Nori glanced to her right. The ledge was quite near, built of rough, bluish-gray stone. "Try to swing me over to the ledge!"

Fernando nodded. She rocked slowly at first, but gradually gained enough momentum for Fernando to swing her out and let go. A very scary split-second was spent in the open air, and then she hit the wall jarringly. She managed to pull herself up, her hands and boots scrabbling at the stone. She kneeled, panting, for a moment before rising on shaky legs.

"Wow, Nori…are you okay?" asked Dom.

"Yeah…fine," she managed to gasp out.

"That was _awesome_," he said. "Straight out of an adventure movie, I'm serious."

"I hope it never happens again," said Nori sincerely, rubbing her scratched hands. "Thanks, Fer…where'd you get the muscle to do that?"

"No problem. It's the swimming and wrestling," he said, grinning and striking a pose. Nori laughed and Dom shook his head, in jealousy or disgust, she couldn't tell.

"Looks like the stairs are over there," said Dom. "Doesn't do to waste time."

"Quite. Onward!" said Nori, beginning the run again.

The third floor was a huge room of colored ropes and ladders leading up to holes in the ceiling. There didn't seem to be anyone else on the level, making Nori wonder if, perhaps, they were in the lead. _Wishful thinking,_ she scolded herself.

"Hmm…I'm betting that some of these ropes or ladders are faulty and'll break if you try to use them," said Fernando.

"Agreed," said Nori. "Everybody here can climb a rope, right?"

The other two nodded.

"Good, let's go around and pull on these ropes, hard, and see if, maybe, the bad ones break and fall."

They dispersed and set about carrying out Nori's plan. She was right—nearly all of the ropes would break and come down when tugged on. After a few moments, she finally found one that didn't want to fall.

"Over here!" she called to the other two. "One at a time, to be safe," she said, beginning her ascent. It was easier than she had expected, and Dom and Fernando both made it up, emerging onto the fourth floor. There was a myriad of holes around them, as they carefully made their way to the stairwell at one side of the room.

The fifth floor's walls were brightly colored in a rainbow mosaic. The floor was covered in sand, and they watched as a girl and a boy dropped out of sight in a cloud of dust.

"Bah, there's holes around…pitfalls," said Dom. 

Nori scanned the ground. There were a lot of open holes that she could see, but strongly suspected that there were hidden pits as well. The placement of the open traps was random, but there was a uniformity to how many openings per a given area. A few apparently solid stretches of ground were far too suspicious.

"Let's stay away from the patches of ground without visible holes," Nori suggested. "They worry me."

"Agreed."

"You got it."

They slowly made their way through the room, carefully avoiding open holes and places that they suspected hid them. After a few near misses, they eventually reached the stairwell on the other side.

The sixth floor had another rushing stream cutting through it, to Nori's utter dismay. The difference was that above its center hung a number of ropes, completely vertical in the absence of wind and too far to reach by hand from the edge. Further down the artificial canyon was a group of three young guys who seemed to be heatedly discussing something amongst themselves.

"Damn, how are we going to get across?" Fernando asked, scuffing the blue tiled floor irritably.

"What I wouldn't do for a cane or some hooky thing…"

Dom stared at the ropes, as if considering something.

"I think…I might know a way to get across."

"Eh? How?"

"I used to do it all the time when I was younger, back in Fortree…there was this rope, hanging from a tree by this lake, and to get on you'd have to take a running jump and grab onto it. Then once it was moving, other kids could just grab it and swing."

"It's so simple, it's perfect! I don't know why I didn't think of that, I used to do the same thing," said Nori. "Ah well. Are you volunteering to go first?"

"You bet," said Dom. He backed up several feet before sprinting toward the ledge. He leapt at the last second and grabbed the rope, swinging easily to the other side. He pushed the weighted rope back to them and Nori caught it, stretching a little.

"Here, you're next, Fer," she said, passing him the rope.

Fernando swung less easily than Dom, as he weighed more and didn't have a running start, but he reached the edge, too.

Nori caught the rope as it was passed to her once again. Glancing to her right, she saw that the three guys seemed to be copying their strategy, as one took a running jump and seized the rope, his momentum taking him to the other side. She shook her head. They'd better stay ahead of those three. She took a deep breath and, willing herself not to look down, leapt into space. The world became a blur of color, solidifying only when her feet touched the ledge on the other side.

"Ohmigod," she breathed, "I think I may have a problem with heights…"

"Just a bit," said Dom. "Now c'mon, we have to stay ahead of those guys."

Nori looked at the men in question; two of them were on the right side, now. She nodded. "Alright."

They ran up the stairwell, shoes pounding on the metal steps. They were surprised to see, as they reached the seventh floor, a completely empty room. High-ceilinged and red-tiled, it was devoid of any sort of challenge or puzzle. At the side opposite them, however, was what appeared to be a stairwell.

"Sixth challenge," said Fernando. They heard the sound of feet ascending the stairs. 

"A race to the finish?" said Dom.

"Sounds likely. Let's go!" Nori launched into a sprint, Fernando and Dom close behind. The three guys appeared and joined the run as well. As Fernando and Dom began to fall behind, finding Nori's pace hard to match, one of the three young men started to catch up to Nori. She risked a glance behind and saw him pass her two traveling partners.

__

Crap, she thought to herself. _Just what I needed, some kind of track star._ She increased her pace but knew that he was still catching up. Thankfully, the stairwell loomed ahead and she did a rapid turn, gripping the railing as she changed direction, and pounded up the stairs. They seemed longer than she remembered, as if going up two or three flights. When she burst through the doorway at the top there was a burst of noise: deafening cheering and whistles. 

A voice boomed, "AND HERE'S OUR FIRST RUNNER-UP!! Haha, runner-up, that's quite a good pun actually…"

Nori slowed her sprint, her eyes adjusting to the bright sunlight on the roof of the Trick House. She looked around, confused, as she slowly walked, dimly hearing the others arrive and similar announcements being made about them, up to a sixth runner-up. 

"Who won, then?" she said to herself.

Attendants appeared out of somewhere and led them to the stage at one end of the roof. Once on the stage and facing the crowd, some of Nori's comprehension came back. The eccentric owner was speaking loudly into a microphone.

"And here's our winner everyone! This lucky gentleman will go home with a lifetime supply of the highest quality pokéblocks available! Let's give him a round of applause!"

Nori glanced at the young man standing beside the Trick House manager, who was now smiling and waving at the crowd. He was, to her absolute and permanent disgust, Hans Mueller. He looked the same: perfect smile, perfect skin, blond hair, blue eyes. He had ditched the PTI uniform, which unfortunately did wonders to bring his 'snobby git' rating down. Now he was merely snobby. He was now dressed in a white turtleneck, jeans and black leather boots, all obviously extremely expensive.

"Our first runner up, this fine young lady, wins a smaller version of the winner's prize! Give her a round of applause for superb effort!"

Nori was startled to see the manager standing by her. She waved hurriedly at the crowd as they applauded, unsure of what else to do.

The manager moved on to the young man after Nori. She began to zone out on what he was saying, then, as all the runner-ups' prizes seemed to be the same. After all of them had been congratulated, Hans was presented with several large, white boxes. He walked off the stage unburdened as a number of assorted female hangers-on appeared to help him carry his prizes. Nori recognized two of them from when she had initially encountered Hans. _The bastard has some more 'admirers', I see. Ugh_.

Nori was presented with a single, but still quite large, box, and wandered over to one end of the stage to wait for Dom and Fernando. The box sizes dwindled as the manager moved down the line, the last young man in line receiving a box about four inches cubed in volume. The trio were making their way, encumbered by the boxes, toward an elevator that would take them straight to the bottom floor, when the three others caught up with them.

"Er, hi," said one, putting his box under his arm and extending a hand. "I wanted to congratulate you…you're _very_ fast."

Nori returned the handshake. "I get a lot of time to practice," she said, politely. He was a bit taller than she was but just as wiry and lean. He was black-haired and looked oriental, his unruly hair brushing against his wire-frame glasses. He was dressed in baggy dark blue jeans and a white T-shirt with a stylized legendary bird silk-screened onto it, one from Johto she recognized as Ho-oh, the phoenix.

"Name's Ace. Ace Blaze," he said.

"Noirsha Hunter. This's Dominic, and Fernando."

"Hi." 

"Yo."

"These two are Bull and Kale."

Bull was aptly named; he was at least six foot five, towering over everyone else, and looked extremely tough. He had sandy brown hair and light blue eyes that, while ice-hued, seemed warm and helpful. He was clad in baggy khaki cargoes and a gray tank top under his brown leather jacket. He waved, somewhat hesitantly, but didn't say anything.

Kale was slightly shorter than Nori, but with enchanting, deep blue eyes and spiky dark hair. He was clothed in dark blue, baggy jeans and a black T-shirt with blue lining his sleeves and collar. 

"Hi all," he said, grinning, before winking cheekily at Nori, who smiled and gave him a look that suggested he would be dead, or at least maimed horribly, if she hadn't this box to carry.

"Nice to meet you," Nori said, meaning it, even with Kale. "I take it you three are traveling partners?"

"No, we actually kind of teamed up for the Trick House thing, but that's starting to sound like a good idea, now…" Ace glanced at Bull and Kale, who nodded in agreement. "Where're you three off to?"

"Let's see…back to the pokémon center to get our stuff, and then we're off to Mauville, I think," said Dom, glancing at Nori for confirmation.

"Same here. Are you taking the bike path or the swamp trail?"

"It'll probably have to be the swamp trail…I don't own a bike," said Nori.

"Yeah, neither do I," said Fernando, Dom nodding agreement.

"I think we're in the same situation," said Ace, glancing at Bull, who nodded agreement.

"Eh, I've got a bicycle," said Kale, "but it's no use if my partners don't. They don't allow people without bikes on the path."

"Right. Well, I was wondering if you three'd care to temporarily join forces, so to speak, with us. I've been hearing stories about how treacherous the marshes can be if you're in small groups."

"Well…I don't know," said Nori, doubtfully. "A group of six sounds just the thing for scaring pokémon away, not to mention it'd be kind of unwieldy."

"I know, I feel the same way, but I've heard about people getting trapped in the mire for days because no one was around, or their friends couldn't get them out and had to run back to Marshore for help."

Nori considered this before shrugging. "Sure, but in Mauville we go our separate ways. Agreed?"

Ace nodded. "Agreed. Meet you at the pokémon center?"

"Sure."

~*~*~

Nori took a moment to inspect her pokéblocks before converting them to data onto her berry storage unit, just to be safe. It took longer than her normal storage device, but it would be unfortunate to find that her hard-earned candies had been damaged in the transfer. The different colors were separated into groups: purple, indigo, brown, light blue, olive green, white and even some gold. She was still a little disappointed that she hadn't won the grand prize—the fact that Hans Mueller had made her grind her teeth in frustration if she dwelled on it too long—but there were enough indigo blocks to make her feebas evolve. There would probably be plenty left over if she wanted to evolve another for whatever reason, or prepare a pokémon for a beauty contest.

__

It'll have to wait until Mauville, though, she thought, as the box was slowly converted to data. _There aren't really any decent bodies of water around here, and I think I may need a pokéblock holder before I can find out exactly what flavors they are._

~*~*~

"Um, Nori? I think we're lost."

Nori resisted the urge to whirl and launch a tirade of abuse. She was hungry, weary, footsore and covered in muck. So were the rest of her comrades, by the look of them. She sighed.

"I know."

This swamp was truly hellish. It had begun as a happy outing, the trainers walking single file along a series of wooden bridges while their water pokémon swam in the reeds and among the water plants. The trees had been primarily massive, ancient weeping willows, their drooping fronts delicately shading the path, with ferns serving as the major undergrowth. Bulrushes, duckweed and floating water-lilies littered the open water. Everywhere one could look had been a symphony of green, speckled with blossoms of every hue, lush and beautiful. Lotad floated gently in the water as taillow sang somewhere overhead. Rustles in the underbrush could have been anything from an oddish to a zigzagoon.

Abruptly, the wooden path had ended, as if the builders had left, overcome with disgust at what lay ahead. The ferns and reeds had given way to a uniform, semi-liquid grayish mud, with a slightly more solid 'path' along it, if you could call it that. Huge trees, their trunks covered in moss and fungus, formed a virtual tunnel, sealing in heat and insects. They all slipped on submerged rocks or tripped over rotten logs more than once, but the eventual coating of mud only gave relief from the biting insects for a short time. The trees began to thin shortly after, allowing in a cold mist that would have prevented the bugs from even flying, anyway. It was here that the swamp turned into a maze, but the trackless, oozing mud gave them no indication whether or not they had come that way before. For some bizarre reason, the trainers' compasses refused to work, their needles swinging randomly in any direction. They were all forced to pull out flashlights as the light dwindled.

But everywhere, _everywhere_ was the stench of corruption and rotting plant (and possibly animal) matter. There was no escaping it.

Nori had grown more and more agitated, threatening to snap at any minute, but the admittance that they were, indeed, well and truly lost, had replaced anger with lethargy.

"So…what's the plan?" asked Kale, trying to scratch some hardened mud off his eyebrow.

"It would be nice to stop at some point," said Dom, looking pale with tiredness.

"I'm not a big fan of kippin' in the mud, myself," said Nori, not unkindly. They were all tired from slogging through this infernal bog.

"I guess…maybe continue until we locate civilization or pass out with weariness?" suggested Ace.

"Whichever comes first," added Kale.

"I'm liking it. Come on, all," said Nori, striking off and immediately slipping on a smooth rock. The others had the decency—or maybe simply the exhaustion—not to laugh. Bull helped her back up, and she trudged forward, followed by the others.

Shortly after, their trek was interrupted by a growling from the undergrowth. Something light green burst out of the filthy plants and landed headfirst in the mud. It rolled around whining, apparently distressed because it couldn't see, but only succeeded in becoming more dirty. Out of pity, Nori bent down and picked it up, wiping the mud off its face with the last clean patch on her tank top. It looked at her, confused and tired. Nori realized that the dog-like creature was an electrike. She would have been able to see its distinctive crest and yellow stripes if it hadn't been coated in muck, though it would have been able to shock her, otherwise.

There was a growling from the trees and the electrike whined in fear, trying to hide itself without leaving Nori's arms. Two odd-looking mightyenas appeared, entirely gray at first glance but a closer inspection revealed that they were covered in the swamp's pale smoke-colored mud. One leapt at Nori and she booted it reflexively, her kick landing on the wolf-like pokémon's sensitive snout and dropping it, whining in pain, to the ground.

She fumbled for a pokéball as a third swamp mightyena appeared. "Go, Bitey!"

Her mightyena appeared in a flash of blue light, growling, his canines containing the venom for his Poison Fang attack prominent. Five other flashes of light and calls to battle confirmed that Kale, Dom and Ace had released their pokémon—she glanced at them—Bull's azurill, Fer's chikorita, Dom's gulpin, Ace's swellow and Kale's…arcanine?! Lucky guy…

As the six pokémon attacked the mightyenas, the trainers failed to notice that the wind had risen, taking the mist with it. The sun had set, and judging by the uniform blackness of the sky, it was at least ten-thirty PM. The only light came from the flashlights the trainers held, and from the full, pale moon.

They allowed the wolf pokémon to step back, as if preparing to retreat. Instead, they howled in unison, muzzles thrown upward toward the night sky. It was an ancient howl, speaking to the wild in Bitey of summoning, and long nights spent hunting in the trackless snow. It went straight from the human trainers' ears to a rarely used but ancient part of their brains, which said, very plainly, "_run_."

They were forced to comply as red eyes and snarls filled the shadows of the trees.

~*~*~

Nyee hee hee hee!! How didja like that, EH?! CLIFFHANGER~ *laughs insanely* Eh heh. Yeah, I'm feeling a bit unhinged today, it was the first day of school and all. Oh well. Tell me what you thought, kiddies! X3

Oh, BTW, I know I'm a bit of a hypocrite for basing this Trick House on the animé Trick House, rather than the game. I beg forgiveness, but it was far more entertaining and I'm lazy. :P

Also, for anyone who feels their character isn't really playing a prominent enough role, I'm VERY VERY sorry. Please forgive me, I'm trying to work them in, but in the end I have to go with whatever works with the story. Sorry, sorry again. T.T

To My Reviewer: Answer/Response Time! ^_^

The Crystal Wyvern: A Bagon? Nah, I don't care much for Salamence.

Koriku: Hehe, Bitey would've been pretty expensive if it takes that much effort to get a poochy with poison fang…makes a good present that way, I guess. Uh-oh, have I said too much? ;) 

Personally, I figure it's some sort of secret genetic engineering project…experimenting with non-organic elements (iron, and such, with silicon involved) in an attempt to create some sort of super-weapon pokémon. So far, the created pokémon haven't really met expectations (i.e.: Grimer, Magemite, Voltorb, Porygon, Beldum's the best so far), but they're working on it. 

Anyway, ERK, I feel your pain on the parental unit issue. They cut off my internet for the night, so I must stay up and write stories. Oh well, I guess it works out well for you guys. ;)

And yeah…Voltorbs are scary. O_O;;

Mal/Volvagia: *foams at the mouth* I MUST HAVE THAT PLAYERS' GUIDE

MuRm: I see. I was trying to support the idea that Metagross and family gain personality over time—Behemoth is still pretty cold and logical, kind of like Mr. Spock from Star Trek (okay, I'm officially a geek now, aren't I X3), whereas Steven's Meta is kind of irritable and whiny, since Steven's had him for a while. I feel that it and other pokémon are man-made, due to their unlikeness to any animal I can think of, and their lack of any sort of ecological niche. For example, magnemite hang around power plants, and that's it. They don't seem to eat and they can't reproduce on their own. Mind you, there are some who feel *all* pokémon are man-made…

Hmm, the only chapter where I was consciously limiting the amount of description that I can think of was that last chapter, where I didn't describe Slateport so much because we'd already been there. I was in a very weird mood when I first wrote the beginning of chapter twelve, and although I went back and touched it all up, there could still be some odd parts. Hopefully this chapter was a return to those old ideals?

With Behemoth, well, in my defense, I'd just like to say that it was, y'know, a Zubat. It doesn't take much to faint one of those things. Also, I feel that there is little a human being can do to fight against a telekinetic attack, but whatever you like.

All the rare and powerful pokémon, eh? Well, maybe I'm too much of a gamer to really see the fine line. I only train the pokémon I'm going to stick with in the long run; I don't bother wasting precious experience on some beautifly I'm going to dump shortly after I hit Mauville City. I mean, to me, having, say, a team of legendaries, or all three starters, a Salamence, a Dragonite, and a Slaking, that's the abyss I work to keep out of. What I'm trying to do, is balance power with reasonableness. I'm not going to have a team of 00ber-powerful gods, but then again I'm not going to have a team of the scrapings of someone's backyard, either.

The pictures are found under Animé Episode Pictures, and then you just click on the episode you want.

Um, yes. All that aside, tell me how you felt about the chapter by *reviewing*. It is verrrrry important to me. X3

P.S.: 4,759 words not counting the end bit. I rule all. XD


	14. Chapter 14: Moonlight

Chapter 14: Moonlight

She ran.

There was nothing else to do.

Feet pounding, sliding, sticky mud flying behind her. She heard them howling, baying to the moon. The mist had gone from her vision, but somehow…her mind felt hazy. She couldn't think, nothing seemed to compute. There was only the darkness…and terror. Mindless, primal terror, it kept her legs moving and her heart beating.

__

But not for long, said the eyes in the shadows.

__

How did mightyenas hunt? she asked herself, dimly. In packs…they selected a pokémon from the herd…the weak, sick, too old, too young…separated them from the others. Hunted them down…went for the neck, crushing the trachea. How had she gotten separated? No, mustn't think, must _run_.

__

But not for long.

~*~*~

She skidded to a halt as the half-formed path ended, gray, sloppy mud dripping off her. She panted, sucking air into her abused lungs, the muscles in her legs aching like she'd never felt. She heard their snarls, the growling surrounding her. She whirled; the red eyes glowed from everywhere. In the scabby trees, from under the filthy plants and in front of her, paw deep in the mud that caked their fur. She twitched with terror, her mind locked, frozen. All she could see was monochrome, dotted with the pack's scarlet eyes. 

She felt something struggle in her arms as the mightyenas closed in, jaws slavering. The barely recognizable electrike leapt from her and landed with a squelch in the mire. It shook itself and growled at the pack, its alto voice sounding pitiful in contrast with the wolf pokémons' grinding baritone snarls. It tried to perform an electric attack, but the mud all around it prevented anything more dangerous than a few sparks.

The lead mightyena seemed to grin at Nori. " _Mi_—this—_tyeh_—best you can—_yen_—do?" Nori was dimly aware that her translator was not working right—must've been the mud—but she was having trouble focusing on anything other than the wolf pokémon's teeth. He growled at the electrike and cuffed it, hard, sending it sprawling into the mud. It lay there, unmoving.

Something within her seemed to snap. A string, drawn to its limit, breaking at the sight of the abused electrike, and the realization that she was about to die. She pressed the releases on three of the pokéballs on her belt, before pulling out a concealed hunting knife. Agni, Bitey and Behemoth appeared, the former two shrieking or growling a war cry.

"You wanna' fight? This is one stantler who isn't going down easy!"

The pack snarled at her and the pokémon before lunging as one. Nori remembered seizing a handful of gray fur and plunging her knife into it. There was a burst of blue heat, and then…darkness.

~*~*~

__

She was falling, her hair streaming out behind her as she reached terminal velocity. Tears leaked from her eyes as the air rushed past them. She closed her eyes, twisted her spine like a cat and turned onto her back. All around her was blackness…she had no idea where the ground was, how long she had before she was nothing but a crimson stain on some rocks.

Abruptly she slowed, felt feather-light as she gently touched the ground and lay there. She was aware of surface beneath her back, beneath her spread-eagled limbs, but she knew there was nothing there. Nothing but black in every direction. There was no concept of space, of anything. Simply nothing.

In the distance there was a glow. She watched it, bored, as it came closer.

At first it was like a star, light without a shape. It began to change, then, flicking from form to form so fast as to be barely recognizable.

Then it settled on one.

It glowed with a cold, pale radiance, so white against the darkness that it would have made snow look gray. Its ice-blue eyes and black nose held its only coloring. It settled back on its haunches next to her, tufted tail flicking idly. So like a mightyena, but…not.

"You have been foolish."

Its mouth did not move, but the words were there, in her mind, as if she had just heard them.

"I know," she said, her mind simply accepting the apparition. It seemed to be beyond analysis, now.

"You are not dead. This is most fortunate. You must take care not to risk yourself again."

A flicker of thought. "Why?"

"You are important."

She stared, her dulled mind struggling to determine how this could be so.

"Who are you?"

"I do not have a name. They are a human invention. Meaningless words. A sign of your invented individualism. There are things that are so much more…distinctive."

"I don't understand."

"It is difficult to, in this place."

"Why am I important?"

"Important is the wrong word. Convenient is closer to what is meant. You are alive at the right time and believe in the right things. This makes you useful to us."

"Why me, then?"

"A random selection. You are nothing special. There are others like you. You could be replaced in an instant."

She watched the white animal, trying to make sense of it all, and then she was falling again, gently, as if she was merely floating down a river channel.

"Do not risk yourself again. We have expended far too much energy locating and monitoring you for you to die now…"

As the words died away, she dropped again, falling faster and faster.

~*~*~

Nori awoke—or perhaps 'regained consciousness' was more appropriate—to the sensation of something licking the side of her face. She groaned and rolled over onto her back before sitting up, expecting her entire left side to be sticky with yet _more_ mud. She looked around in disbelief as all the mud she could see had hardened, its dusty surface riddled with cracks. The muck that she had been coated with during her trek through the swamp had dried also, and crumbled with every move she made. 

More perplexing were the bloodstains on her clothes from wounds she didn't have. Her tank top was torn in a remarkably jaw-like pattern, and there was blood to support that inference, but no pain, no severe lacerations…

Oh dear. Just scar tissue.

She ran a hand over the left side of her abdomen, where she had apparently been bitten, then her collarbone, which sported a set of scars that felt a lot like a claw raking. There was a similar set high on the outside of her right thigh, judging by the tearing and bloodstains on her shorts.

A whine from her right brought her back to the outside world. She glanced over to see Bitey, who was looking extremely concerned.

"What happened?" they said to each other at the same time.

"_Migh_! You mean you don't know?" said Bitey.

"All I remember is stabbing something, and…and then…fire?"

"That was me," said Agni, scratching at the hard mud, wings crossed in front of her. "I got really mad, and…I dunno. There was a…burst of flame. I'm sure I killed a couple of them, but…"

They glanced around, the scene conspicuously free of mightyena bodies.

"This situation is extremely perplexing," said Behemoth, hovering delicately. "I recall seeing you all with considerable tissue damage, and myself with a severe drop in energy. I appear to have had a lapse in memory, however, as the next item I can remember is you sitting up, Nori."

"I saw…I remember something. Like I was dreaming…" said Bitey, quietly. "It was…white…and it was saying things…but I don't remember what."

Nori blinked. "Hold on, why does that sound familiar to me…?"

Agni looked at them. "Well, I don't know what you two are talking about. I didn't dream about anything, white or no."

"It is the same with me," said Behemoth.

Nori sighed, massaging her temples. "Well, whatever…I think we'd better try and look for the others…I really don't know how we got separated in the first place." She glanced up at the sky; its vaguely grayish color and the low light suggested it was very early morning.

"_Triii_…"

Nori jumped slightly at the low, keening cry. She located its source, a lump of mud that, on closer inspection, was revealed to be the electrike from earlier. Whatever mysterious force had healed her and her pokémon had obviously passed over the electric pokémon. It would have been fine, were it not for its optical trauma. When the mightyena had slashed it, he had left three deep grooves in the right side of the electrike's face, one passing over its right eye. The eye in question seemed to be caked with blood and sealed shut.

Nori gently lifted the pup-like pokémon. It didn't protest, but seemed to be slipping in and out of consciousness. She was considering her options when the sound of voices and footsteps reached her ears. She started walking, trying to find the source of the noise, her pokémon trailing after her.

"Hello? Who's there?" she called.

"Nori! It's Nori, you guys!"

There was the sound of foliage being trampled violently as five men took a shortcut through a patch of soaking, muddy trees and shrubs.

"Gods, Nori, are we glad we found y—" began Dom.

"Sweet gods, what happened?" said Kale, in apparent horror.

Nori glanced down at her mud-caked, torn and occasionally bloodied clothes, and the beaten electrike in her arms.

"Believe me when I say it's a weird. Effing. Story. In more urgent news, however, this electrike needs serious medical assistance."

"C'mon, then, this way," said Ace, cutting back through the trees.

"Is that the electrike from before? I saw you pick it up," said Dom.

"Yeah, it is."

"Really, what happened? Those mightyenas called the rest of the pack so we recalled the pokémon and ran for it, then all of a sudden _we_ were running from nothing and you were gone."

"I'm serious, I don't know what happened. I was just…really, really scared. I couldn't think properly until the last second. And…I have this weird feeling that I'm supposed to be dead."

The silence that ensued was only broken by Fernando extracting a super potion from his backpack, which he offered to Nori. She shook the spray bottle, hearing the small amount of liquid that was left slosh around inside. Delicately, she squirted the healing potion onto the electrike's wounded face. It whined pitifully—the potions tended to sting—before lapsing into unconsciousness again, not looking much better.

"Damn."

"Yeah, the potions won't work sometimes on serious injuries like that…" Fernando sighed and returned the empty bottle to his bag.

"Where're we going, anyway?"

"While we were looking for you we found this house," said Kale, "there's this scary woman who lives there—ow!"

"Dude, you should really respect your elders," said Bull.

"Right," said Kale, rubbing his side. "Anyway, she's frightening and, like, the _epitome_ of the cynic, but she offered to let us stay and rest up. Of course we kept going, saying we'd come back…we wanted to find you, first."

"It's just up over…here." Ace pointed, an unneeded gesture.

It was a stately house, a _château_ that was violently out of place, and yet, somehow…meant to be there. It appeared to be on an island encircled by greenish water, the isle's banks littered with hanging trees. Willow fronds dipped into the almost imperceptibly flowing water, trailing lazily. A small plank bridge, girded with iron, joined the isle of green with the encircling stagnation of the marshes beyond. The lawns around the manor, hanging baskets of flowers and assorted trees were obviously in a state of neglect, but had somehow achieved a state of almost…wild beauty. The gardens of an abandoned palace, ivy slinking over every surface…

There was a woman in the stone archway of the front door, almost silhouetted by the flickering light beyond; tall, white-haired and dressed sternly in black. At first glance, her white hair gave the impression of an elderly lady, but upon closer examination she was quite young, perhaps in her early twenties. A sense of _timelessness_ radiated from her, however…the eyes saw one thing while the brain insisted she was far older. 

An ice sculpture in the dead of winter… _you think I'm gone, but I'll be here, waiting…_ winter cold on summer's day… Nori gave a little shudder.

"_Bienvenue à le château d'hiver…_I'll be your tour guide this evening, take care not to touch anything, or I _will_ break your fingers." She was smiling slightly as she said it, but it was a smile Nori associated more with predatory cats. She put her hands in her pockets. Her shirt was long-sleeved, a black turtleneck. Her pants resembled pajama bottoms in the way they hung loosely, trailing over her bare feet. Nori stared, wondering how anyone could possibly stand to wear such clothing in humid, sticky heat like this.

"So…I take it you're Nori," she said, fixing her with an intensely green gaze.

"Um…yes."

"You have some good friends, here." That same hard-eyed stare, revealing nothing…her hair seemed to stir as if moved by the breeze, but there was no wind in the swamp…

"Listen, this electrike—"

"All in good time. Come along." She turned on one heel, hair fanning out behind her. Nori noticed that her hair had one bit of color—a streak of crimson, blood red, at the back.

The _château_ was built of stone, its floors worn smooth over time. Paintings covered the walls, the upright portrait canvasses hidden with sheets while the landscapes, gardens or pokémon were left uncovered. Their passage was illuminated by large, flickering black candles. They passed several rooms, furniture covered in similar white sheets to keep off the dust. They eventually reached a hall, dominated by a long dining table with matching chairs, perfectly positioned. They continued on, up a flight of stairs and into a hallway, carpeted with threadbare red velvet.

"Pick a room, any room, unless the furniture has blankets on it. Don't bother with those." As the guys dispersed, she looked at Nori. "You, girl. Come with me."

She turned, descending the stairs at the same, rapid pace, and cutting through the large hall. They emerged in what appeared to be a kitchen, the majority of it looking old and untouched. Only a small corner held the modern conveniences she was accustomed to: refrigerator, stove, sink…

The white-haired woman pulled a box that looked like a first aid kit out of a cupboard before setting it down on the counter. Pulling on a pair of latex gloves, she ordered, "Set him down on the table, there." She pointed, indicating a rickety-looking servant's table. Nori obeyed, setting the electrike down, gently. It lay there, limp and unresisting.

The woman felt the electrike's limbs, checking for breaks and listening attentively for any yelps or moans of pain.

"Hmm. Internal damage, fatigue…and then that eye…" she muttered, as if Nori wasn't even in the room. She gave a low, piercing whistle. 

A moment later, a large, yellow spike-furred wolf appeared in the kitchen, trotting. Nori recognized him as a jolteon, a species not native to Hoenn.

"What's up? And who's she?" he asked, black eyes glancing toward her.

"My name's Nori," she said, starting to feel left out of the loop.

The woman glanced at her. "Oh…you've got one of those damn translators." She sighed and stared at the jolteon, silently. A moment later he trotted away, breaking into a run once he reached the hall if the sound of his claws on the stone was anything to go by.

"Am I missing something, here?" Nori asked.

Those hard, green eyes…like emeralds flecked with gold… "In my experience, the average person is missing a _lot_ at any given time."

The jolteon reappeared with a large, fox-like pokémon in tow that Nori was having a hard time recalling the name of. She was brown and gold-colored, with short, drooping mustaches hanging from her snout. The two spoons she held, light purple but twisted like corkscrews…oh, right! Alakazams, they were called. Powerfully psychic…

The woman and the alakazam were having some sort of discussion judging by their locked stares and minute but constant changes in expression. Finally the pokémon raised her hands and a blue glow encircled the electrike, who lay unmoved. Tiny sparkles fell like snow, drifting gently onto the young pokémon, most settling on its injured eye but some traveling to its chest and disappearing. After a few minutes the alakazam stopped, shaking her head.

"There's only so much I can do." The psychic pokémon's voice was a baritone that was somehow feminine. It seemed to echo strangely…

"I know. Thank you for trying, Kamrusepas."

The fox-like pokémon nodded before strolling out of the room.

The woman lifted the electrike gently with the care of long experience.

"He'll be blind in that eye, or…mostly blind." Her eyes seemed to flicker. "But he owes his life to you. You may find no greater ally."

"Th-thank you," said Nori, taking the dog-like pokémon awkwardly. "Was there anything I could have done."

"What is in the past is in the past. It cannot be changed," she paused, oddly, "no matter how hard you try. Don't search for an excuse to beat yourself up."

"I know, but—"

"You need a pokémon center restoration facility to repair eye tissue, and you would never have made it to Mauville in time. Regardless, if you had not been there, he would be a bloody spot on the mud. I would trade my eye for my soul any day. What about you?"

Nori nodded, staring at the floor and idly stroking the electrike. She voiced a question as the woman started to walk away.

"Um…listen, what's your name?"

"My name?" she stopped, halfway out of the kitchen. She pulled off her gloves and flicked them expertly into a wastebin. "I've been called a lot of things. A name is just a word."

Nori blinked. That seemed familiar, somehow… "Names are important to me. Which name do you like best, then?"

She smiled, cynically. "Lady Kuroi, I imagine. What's your full name? Nori is just a nickname, isn't it?"

"It is, actually. My real name is Noirsha…Noirsha Hunter."

Lady Kuroi stiffened, abruptly, staring straight ahead. One of her hands seemed to clench slightly. "I'm going to help you get out of the swamps, but that may take time," she eventually said. "Make yourself comfortable." She then swept out of the room with surprising speed.

~*~*~

The six trainers found Lady Kuroi at the back of the house the next morning, standing beside what was definitely a charizard. The woman and her pokémon had probably been talking before the trainers had appeared. They had the slightly guilty looks of partygoers who had just been trading gossip about people who had left the table but came back faster than expected.

The charizard was bizarre: rather than being a normal color of dark red, orange-yellow or some shade in between, his hide was an extremely dark gray, almost black. The only parts of him not midnight-hued were his dark green eyes and blue-burning tail flame. Slightly less remarkable than his unusual coloring was his large size—the charizard had to have been at least nine feet tall, when the average member of the species was more around six feet. He appeared to shake his head as the trainers approached, before spreading his dark wings and rising into the sky.

"Gods…that's some 'zard," said Ace to Lady Kuroi, when they got close enough.

Kuroi shrugged. "He comes and he goes. Right now he's scouting the paths through the swamp, to see if I can make a map for you."

"What do you mean, 'if'?" asked Dom. "You live here…how could you not know your way around?"

"The wetlands can fool the even most experienced," Kuroi replied, eyes hard. "They are…unnatural, in some ways. Trainers looking for pokémon don't often come into the dead marshes. The ones that do tend not to come out."

"What allows those certain trainers to find a way out, then?" asked Kale, sounding skeptical.

"Some of them find my _château_. Others…" she smiled slightly, "follow a white light that leads them out, or fall unconscious and wake up at the edge of the marshes."

"White light, eh?" said Kale, glancing at the others with raised eyebrows.

Kuroi shrugged. "An angel, a marsh god, a mew…I personally think it's a different kind of spirit. Or spirits, to be more exact."

The six grinned or smiled sardonically. Most tales of supernatural beings or legendary pokémon were discredited due to the consumption of alcohol by the witnesses.

"Anyway," the Lady continued, "my larder is well-stocked, as they say, so if you people want some breakfast, feel free to help yourselves."

The male trainers didn't need to be told twice; they quickly set off in the direction of the kitchen, leaving Nori alone on the lawn. Her stomach gave a loud growl of disapproval, but she ignored it.

Nori stared at Lady Kuroi, her eyes hardening. The woman stared back, impassively.

"I get the feeling that there's something you're neglecting to tell me, and I've been getting a lot of that, lately. I'd appreciate if there were no mysteries between us."

Kuroi opened her mouth as if to snap a cutting remark, but closed it again without saying a word. She sighed, folding her arms. "What do you want to know?"

"You acted rather…odd when I told you my name. Why?"

"It is a very…singular name."

"I have been told that it means 'blackbird', though in what language I have failed to determine."

"_Hii'esh neir a loksr ni'riieb o r'nath_," Kuroi breathed, her pitch rising and falling unnaturally.

"…What?" Nori stared, confused.

"In the Old Tongue, which I am foolish to utter here, Noirsha is a word meaning 'a winged creature of midnight hue.' Or, more simply, 'a black bird.'"

"But…it could be referring to anything black with wings…"

"Yes…there is a…legend associated with it, which I cannot tell properly. You will need to visit someone else to get anything out of the story."

"Who?"

"A man from the desert…they call him Vesperus, though his birth name is Gabriel. But you'll need to know his secret name in order to get the full tale out of him."

"I don't suppose you could tell me?"

"I could, actually…it is Lotharquiel. Keep in mind though, he might be in a bad mood and decide to kill you. He's a very grouchy man."

Nori was silent a moment. "Who the _hell_ are you?" she asked, finally.

"I am the darkness, the clouds before the storm, the starlight on a winter frost, the shadows between the trees…"

"Quit screwing around with me! I—"

"Does the alias _Ookami no Fuyu_ mean anything to you?"

"…You _can't_ be…"

"The Wolf of Winter? I am, actually."

"You…could've been a legend…"

"And then I threw it all away to chase Rockets."

"And…and you…"

"Got nothing out of it. The Mercenary escaped."

"A life was lost…"

"…on my account. Several, in reality," Kuroi finished. "That was a long time ago. What happened, I cannot change."

Nori stared helplessly. This woman had been a single match away from being the youngest trainer to beat the Indigo, Orange and Johto leagues, the triple crown of pokémon training at the time, and she had thrown it away, forfeiting her match in the name of vengeance. But that was years before Nori had even been born…

Nori hesitated, remembering something. "In the swamp…something saved my pokémon and I from those mightyenas. I remember a white wolf…"

Something like a wistful look came into the Lady's eyes before disappearing. "One of the _E'riisim_. Small gods," she clarified, "or spirits. Your rescuer was called Lunucis, once."

"Once?"

"By the marsh tribes. That was a very long time ago, though…before my time, in fact—"

"Just how old are you, anyway?"

Kuroi continued as if she had not heard. "I believe they retreated to Gaiien, or perhaps one of the further regions. There are many that have not even been named."

"I see…" Nori's stomach rumbled angrily. "I'd better be getting some breakfast, then." She turned, went away shaking her head. _With every answer came more questions…_

~*~*~

Kuroi heard the wolf howl, under the stars, when the six had gone. _Sweet Moonlight, doomed to an eternity of solitude…_

She stared at the gently wheeling sky, the stars twirling about the earth, the slightly less than full moon casting a pale glow on all below it. She stared out into the trees, where the trainers had gone. If the _E'riisim_ were on the girl's side…she could have been blind and deaf and she would've been able to get out of the swamp. Nothing could stand in her way…

But at the same time…

"Marissa…" she said to the night, "what have you done?"

~*~*~

Bah! Sorry about the wait, everyone. School has been absolutely BRUTAL. Ugh. I'm sorry if this chapter's been weird, I've been writing it over the course of the last week or whatever it's been, and over that long a period of time I tend to get new ideas. I've tried to smooth it all out, but if you guys see any inconsistencies, let me know.

To My Reviewer: Question/Answer Time! ^_^

Dew: Not go to waste at the expense of school, eh? Meep. I'm getting really scared that it's happening. X_x

Koriku: Well yeah, Grimer was kinda stretching it. Meep.

And yeah, Voltorb should totally not be able to breed. I agree, they're just…spherical objects. O_o;;

ERK! I'm sorry…I'm really indifferent to 'spoilers' so I forget that other people might not want to know what's coming…^_^;;

Hehe, he's a cutie, isn't he? Looks like it so far... ^_~

Julie: Hehe, psychic abilities…maybe. Again, we'll see what my muses have to say. ^_~

Crystal Wyvern: Heh, I hope this chapter fulfilled your requirements for a good cliffhanger resolution. ^_^;;

Lady Silver: Albino? Damn, that would've been an awesome idea! No, unfortunately, they're pretty much like regular mightyenas, only completely covered in mud, so they look all gray.

Okay, that's it for Q+A…everyone make sure to review! They keep me going when physics and math want to eat my heart. X_x


	15. Chapter 15: Of Rivalry

Chapter 15: Of Rivalry

Mauville City was known as the "crossroads town". At the geographic center of Hoenn—not including the outlying islands—four major routes led away from it. The city saw the most trainer traffic of any settlement in Hoenn, and had two pokémon centers in order to deal with the huge influx of sick or injured pokémon. The south 'center was just inside the city limits, so trainers could heal their weary pokémon almost immediately after emerging from the swamp or bike path routes. The 'center further to the north was slightly 'high-brow', with more expensive food and squishier chairs.

Nori, being extremely money-conscious—forking over half your cash after losing a battle _hurt_—had opted for the cheaper center, but at the sight of the enormous line and extremely harried-looking nurses, had been forced to try the other.

The _centre du pokémon_, as she labeled it scornfully, was a _bit_ more than just a little highbrow. It was extremely posh, from the plush carpets and polished wood in the foyer to the aquariums, leather armchairs and marble-topped tables in the lounge. Nori smirked at what a sight the six of them were making: booted, carrying worn bags and splattered with mud even after their short trek through the remainder of the swamp. Her spiked bracelets probably didn't improve the appearance.

She stepped up to the concierge's desk, the other five clustered around her. The thin, balding man glanced at her once before looking back down at some nondescript papers.

"Excuse me," Nori said, vaguely annoyed. "We would like to have our pokémon healed."

The concierge gave no response.

"Sir? We would _like_—"

"We are completely booked up," he snapped.

Nori glanced at the nearly full key racks. "_Really,_" she said, dangerously.

"Hold on, Nori, let me try…" Kale pushed up to the front, extracting a card from a pocket. It was stained and creased, but its gold filigree was still much in evidence.

"Pardon me, good sir…" Kale held up the card. "My friends and I are in need of lodgings and medical attention for our pokémon."

The concierge took the card and read it, holding it as if it was some sort of poisonous insect. His expression changed almost immediately.

"Of course, Mister Kerrigan! How many rooms will you require?"

"Six, I think."

"There is of course a thousand-yen charge per person…"

"That's fine. Bill it to my account."

"As you wish, sir. The clinic and dining areas are to your right. Your rooms are on the second floor," he said, selecting six key cards and placing them in front of the trainers.

As soon as they were out of earshot of the snooty concierge, Nori spoke up.

"Um, Kale?…The hell?"

Kale blushed slightly. "What? I can afford it. Rich parents, okay?"

"Well…"

"Look, you guys aren't in my debt if that's what you're thinking. It was the only way we could get some decent rooms and our pokémon healed."

Nori shrugged. Whatever Kale said, she didn't like to feel like she owed someone something.

The rooms were very much worth their thousand-yen price tag; the complementary suites at regular pokécenters just couldn't compare. Nori's room had a dark-type theme; everything in the room was black. Paintings of nightscapes or dark pokémon adorned the walls, and a vase of black tulips stood on one table. She felt bad for tracking mud into the room, and decided to take her pokémon down to be healed and fed. She glanced into a couple of the guys' rooms as well—they had left their doors open slightly, for some reason. The other rooms had similar pokémon type themes; Dom's was electric and Kale's fire-type. 

She continued on down to the main level, casting scornful glances at the trainers in the lounge, daintily sipping green tea and reading magazines.

The nurses almost refused to heal her pokémon, but relented in the end, gingerly taking the tray of pokéballs as if they carried an infectious disease.

~*~*~

Even the showers were somehow more refreshing, or perhaps it was merely the long haul through the marshes. _Either way,_ she thought, _I feel much better now._ She dried her thick hair quickly, watching as it went from stringy dark brown to thick chestnut as she blow-dried and brushed it at intervals. Her natural coppery highlights gleamed when she finished.

Nori sat in one of the chairs, flipping through a pokémon equipment magazine, a thick, black towel wrapped around her, as her clothes—both sets of which had become filthy in the marshes—were washed and then dried in the room's respective appliances. There was definitely something to be said for the rich life…

She dressed after her black tank top, khaki shorts and miscellaneous other garments came clean, soft and smelling faintly of lavender. 

Nori sighed, catching the delicate scent. There were some things you weren't allowed to forget, she imagined.

~*~*~

It felt wrong to accept Kale's offer to buy them and the pokémon dinner—Nori was poor, but she still had her pride. Regardless, the prices for food were astronomical, and it was a relief not to have to part with any of her hard-earned cash.

She was enjoying a juicy, well-cooked steak—possibly tauros, as it was so lean—when the silken tones of her second least favorite person in the world reached her ears.

"Miss Hunter? Surely it is not," said Hans.

"Mister Mueller…why have you taken it upon yourself to irritate me so?" Nori rose from her seat, the five watching her in bewilderment as she turned to face the blond trainer.

"My, my…surely you cannot be so talented a trainer as to be in the recommended…price range, for this particular establishment? Or did you sell off your prize from the Trick House?" asked Hans, looking slightly amused.

"I will ask you not to inquire into my financial status," said Nori icily. 

"As you like, but perhaps you would rather…make me?" Hans drew a crystalline-looking pokéball. "Not too good for a little one-on-one, are we?"

"Never," snapped Nori. "I'll see you outside in"—she glanced at the ornate grandfather clock—"ten minutes."

"Of course…" Hans bowed mockingly.

"Bugger off. You've disturbed my meal," Nori snarled.

When her rival had left the room, Nori sat back down in her polished, leather-cushioned chair.

"Pompous loser…I'm not like that, am I?" said Kale, with mock concern.

"No, you're just naïve," said Fernando, delicately sipping his soup from a spoon.

"_Ar_—and he scares away all the girls," remarked Rhinestone, Kale's arcanine, as she looked up from a plate of raw meat. Nori and the others with translators smirked or chuckled, while Kale merely looked confused.

"What? What'd she say?"

"She said you don't have any luck with the ladies," explained Dom, trying not too laugh too hard. 

"Aww, c'mon now—" said Kale, indignantly.

"That's okay, though. I like him all to myself. _Nine_." Rhinestone treated Kale to as wet a lick as she could manage.

"Hey! Jeez, I'm just the whipping boy of the group, aren't I?" moaned Kale, trying to smooth down the massive cowlick that resulted, causing the others further merriment. More cultured diners seemed to be looking at them with annoyance, Nori noticed.

"You? Of course not. You'd've gone on a rampage by now if that were the case," said Nori sweetly.

~*~*~

A gap of about fifteen feet separated them. It was difficult to discern whose eyes held more barely-concealed loathing. Sparks of flame should have danced in midair where their stares met, vivid green against ice blue. Nori's loose assemblage of traveling buddies stood near her, watching with mild interest. Hans' female entourage seemed to have grown since the last time she'd seen him: the two original members flanked him now, like a pair of strippers around a particularly wealthy patron. There was a crowd assembling around them already—battles were invariably a popular spectacle.

Hans held up the crystalline pokéball from before. "Ready to lose, Miss Hunter?"

She grasped Agni's pokéball tightly. "We'll see, Mueller…" she announced, coldly.

Hans smirked. "Go, Feuerhund!"

"Agni, go!"

Nori's combusken appeared in a flash of red light, screeching a war cry. Facing her was an orange dog-like pokémon with odd-looking tiger stripes. His head and chest sported the beginnings of a cream-colored mane, and his tail was a similar shade, but more puffy. The growlithe snarled at Agni, baring his small fangs.

Nori glanced at her pokédex as quickly as she could, not wanting to miss any detail of the battle. Hans' growlithe was level twenty-five, while Agni's level was approximated at level twenty-three. She bit her lip, slightly nervous. Hans had a level advantage…

"Feuerhund, tackle it!" said Hans, his own pokédex held loosely in one hand, as if barely worth consideration. He wouldn't need it much, of course…he had gone to PTI for seven or eight years so he could gauge a pokémon's strength simply by looking at it.

"Agni, double kick!"

Feuerhund rammed into Agni, but was knocked back by the sudden barrage of kicks and scratches from the combusken. The firedog snapped at her, growling, to which she replied with a shot of fire.

"Bite, Feuer!"

With a surprising burst of agility, the growlithe leapt and bit the fire chicken savagely. Agni squawked in surprise and pain before slashing at the fire hound's face with her claws and beak. Feuerhund hastily dropped her.

"Sand attack, Agni!" 

The combusken did not seem to react…until a clump of sand and dirt landed squarely in Feuerhund's face. He whined, pawing at the grit. Agni took the opportunity to attack again; she landed a few kicks before he rebuffed her with a shot of embers.

"You have been an excellent opponent," said Hans suddenly, smiling. "But I believe it is time to finish this. Feuerhund! Dig!"

"Oh _sh—_" breathed Nori. Growlithes had good physical attack, if not that much else, and Agni was weak to ground-type attacks.

Already, Feuerhund was disappearing underground in a shower of earth. Agni watched helplessly, unsure if it was wise to run to the hole and offer a few parting fireballs.

"Agni…um, focus your energy…"

" _Ken_! I'm about to get knocked out here! What is that going to do?" screeched Agni, her flame-red eyes angry.

"Just do it! You can't hit him right now, anyway!"

Agni muttered irritably but closed her eyes, standing still as she glowed red and dust swirled around her briefly.

"Just wait, Agni…wait and _listen_…"

Everything was silent, even the spectators who had been cheering or catcalling noisily up until this point.

And then…was that a low rumble?

Feuerhund slammed up into Agni, bursting from the ground, but she was not caught entirely off guard. With another battle cry, she righted herself and scratched, kicked, pecked and flamed the growlithe with all her remaining strength. Feuerhund staggered backward a pace or two under the onslaught before cuffing the combusken away.

Nori stole another, final glance at her pokédex. Both pokémon were at critical health, but while Hans' growlithe had still a sizable chunk left, Agni had barely a sliver. The fire chicken was down on one knee, panting heavily.

Hans smirked. "Finish it," he said quietly, turning his back on the battle.

Feuerhund tensed, preparing to spring—

"No! Wait!"

"Hmm?" Hans turned, saw Nori standing in between Agni and his growlithe. 

"I…surrender. You win. I…don't want to see my combusken knocked out." She stared at the ground, fumbling through her pockets before pulling out a number of bills.

"That won't be necessary," said Hans. It was the same pompous voice, same arrogant smirk as always. But in the eyes…was there a measure of pity?

Nori looked up. "…What?"

"I said, that won't be necessary. I neither want nor need your forfeiture. You're welcome to lose again later, however." He laughed, almost instantly joined by his sycophantic entourage. _Definitely devoid of pity, there…_

She recalled Agni and withdrew back to the 'center.

~*~*~

Nori stared at the sunset's orange fires, seemingly drawing all the light out of the world as it sunk beneath the earth. Pools of liquid gold settled on the gently rippling lake, the dark waters lapping idly at the pebbly shore. Her legs dangled over the edge of the wooden dock, her feet in the water. Below her, the gift feebas swam idly, not much prettier than the rocks that bottomed the lake. A flock of wingull passed by overhead, the thin, white and blue-striped pokémon squawking raucously, briefly worrying her. Would the gulls go after her feebas? No, not likely. She was incredibly hard to see, in this light.

It was not until she had begun to walk back toward Mauville that she remembered the electrike. She felt irresponsible and stupid now, in addition to her previous feelings of ineptitude and sulkiness.

"What a wonderful time to meet one's new trainer," she muttered, tossing the pokéball to the ground. There was a flash of red light as the green, dog-like pokémon materialized. He looked around, confused, before sitting and yawning tiredly. He scratched at his short, spiky fur before looking up and noticing her.

"_El_—oh! You're…that human! Hi!" He wagged his pointed stub of a tail, then blinked in confusion. "…Why can't I see right?"

Nori sat down in front of him, smiling sadly. "There were some mightyenas chasing us. Do you remember?"

"Ummm…yeah. They were going to eat me, weren't they? But you saved me!" More excited tail-wagging.

"Er…kind of. Sure. But one of them…scratched your eye."

"Oh. It'll get better, though, right?"

"Well…probably not. I'm sorry."

"Oh." The electrike looked at her sadly, one eye red and the other sightless white, surrounded by scars.

Nori sighed, picking up the little dog and holding him under one arm, stroking his short fur. She started walking.

"Can you train me?"

Nori blinked. "What?"

"You're a human. Humans make pokémon fight each other," explained the dog pokémon patiently. "Can you make me strong?"

"I…don't know. I lost to my…my biggest rival today. I don't think I'm…good enough."

"That's because you didn't have me." Nori glanced at the electrike. He sounded completely serious. "Come on, I can help you!" He wiggled about, anxious to prove himself.

"Okay, okay…I'll…give it a try, I guess…What's your name? Mine's Nori."

"Name…? Oh…um, I don't think I have one. My mum always called us in the order we were born."

"What happened to your mother?"

"Dunno. I can't remember things too well…up until those mightyenas were chasing me. There's just…colors. And sounds. You know?"

"I guess. Umm…let's see…how about Indra? That's the name of an old thunder god."

"Indra, Indra…I like it. Fits, somehow."

Indra wagged his tail happily as she walked back to Mauville.

~*~*~

The sun rose in a symphony of color and the sound of pokémon greeting the new day. The city was already awake was early bird trainers wandered the streets, waiting for various stores to open. The occasional anti-grav hummed down the narrow street, often gaining curious stares from people on the wide sidewalks. Nori was one of them, meandering down the walkway with Indra in tow. The roar of the vehicles' massive engines never failed to startle her. The electric pokémon trotted erratically, running ahead of Nori, then falling behind as he stopped to investigate something, before running up ahead again. She found it was best to just keep walking and let him catch up.

The stores around her were opening slowly. Here, a clothing store, there, a little convenience shop—other stores advertised more exotic wares, such as expensive technical machines from Kanto and Johto, or evolution stones. She knew what she wanted, however; her money supply had been spared a major blow by Hans' refusal—the thought made her hands clench involuntarily—but it was still rather low, and she knew it would be crucial to economize. She had one major thing currently in mind—a pokéblock case. She wanted to assess the quality of her pokéblocks, as pokémon tended to become tired of one flavor quite easily, and better-quality pokéblocks would raise their characteristic rating more quickly. 

She also had another item in mind…being among so many trainers had made her realize how easy it would be to lose one's pokéballs, or have them stolen _en masse_, and not be able to distinguish between one trainer's pokémon and her own. She had decided to search for some stickers or acrylic paint to make her own capture devices more distinctive…

She noticed a pokémon contest supply store opening a short distance ahead of her and quickly made her way over to it. The shop was untidy and cluttered, its rows of narrow metal shelves packed with slightly dusty merchandise and its walls covered in layers of faded posters. A portly, balding man with muscular limbs suggesting a fighting-type trainer gone slightly to seed was arranging brightly-colored scarves on a turning, circular rack. Indra sniffed at the musty boxes but trotted back to Nori, finding the scents uninteresting. An elderly-looking machoke wearing brightly-patterned boxer shorts waddled out from somewhere in the back and set a cardboard box on the counter. Glancing at Nori, he barked "customer, Koji!" before disappearing into the maze of shelves.

"Eh? Oh, didn't see you there. What can I get you?" said Koji, looking both annoyed and embarrassed.

"Uh, what do you sell here exactly?" said Nori.

"Stuff for pokémon contests, mainly…scarves, TMs, pokéblocks, berry seeds…we've got things for regular trainers, too, though."

"Do you sell pokéblock cases?" said Nori, coughing slightly from the mixed odor of cardboard and cigarettes that was wafting off the storekeeper.

"Yeah, we do…over here." He stalked off at the surprising pace of annoyed salespeople everywhere, with Nori almost running in his wake. He stopped at a set of locked cabinets, where an number of the different-colored cases stood propped up on stands, in between pokédex and pokégear upgrade cards, casino coin cases and devon scopes, among other things.

"They're all the same, the color doesn't mean anything," Koji grunted. "You came at a good time though, they're on special; buy one and get a free set of contest scarves."

"Cool," said Nori, absently, as she studied the holding devices. "How much?"

"Seven thousand. Comes with a lifetime warranty," he added hurriedly, probably hearing her choked squeak.

She mentally assessed her current funds. "Ack…I don't think I can afford it. That's a lot more than I thought they were."

The storekeeper shrugged. "Too bad. Come back later, I guess."

~*~*~

While her pokéblock case venture failed, Nori found a multilingual printing shop run by a slightly desperate woman from Kanto and was able to have two sheets of fifty stickers printed. They were about an inch in diameter with a black ring around the edge, in the middle was the _kanji_ for 'crow', also in black ink. They were printed on clear, rather heavy-duty plastic.

After getting back to the _centre du pokémon_, she allowed her pokémon to play in the spacious courtyard as she affixed the stickers to their pokéballs. It was in the back of the high-class 'center, with tables and lawn chairs around a freshwater pool and expertly manicured lawns and trees besides. The feebas swam idly while Bitey and Indra tussled playfully; Neko dozed in the sun as Behemoth appeared to meditate. Agni was attempting to wade in the pool; her fire-type instincts were obviously rebelling was she would take a few steps in, then run back out, shaking the water off her feet. Then she would repeat the attempt, each time staying in the water a tiny bit longer. Nori watched her, puzzled, for almost a minute before deciding the combusken was trying to increase her resistance to water attacks, and wondered to herself how effective the exercise would actually be.

She applied the stickers to the common white underside of the pokéballs, where they were quite noticeable. Satisfied, she was smoothing the creases on the last one—Indra's pokéball—when Dom appeared and sat down at the table, across from her.

"Hey Nori…what'cha doing?"

"Putting stickers on my pokéballs," she said, holding one up as evidence. "Makes 'em more distinctive."

"Hey, good idea…I should probably do that…"

"Yeah," agreed Nori.

"Um…listen," said Dom after a pause. "Me, Fer and that tall guy, Bull, um, we went over to the gym and we all won."

"Did you? That's excellent."

"Yeah…so, well, we're leaving town. Going on to Lavaridge."

"Really…"

"Yeah…Ace and Kale are going to head over to the gym whenever you are. It's nothing personal," Dom said hurriedly, "I just want to get going, you know?"

"Oh, oh yeah, that's fine," said Nori, shrugging. She smiled, kindly…she hoped. "Good luck. I'll see you at the League tourney, alright?"

Dom grinned. "You can count on it."

~*~*~

The remaining three trainers walked to the Mauville gym, cutting through the groups of trainers who thickly wandered the sidewalks, out for a lunch-time stroll. The smells drifting out of open-air restaurants made her stomach growl, but she was determined that she would only settle for a _victory_ lunch.

The gym was a large, power plant-like building with a transformer apparatus and numerous cables leading away from it, constructed from yellow-beige stone. The front of the building had two large windows on either side of the sliding glass doors.

The waiting area on the interior had been decorated in lurid shades of orange and yellow that were extremely offensive to Nori's, however limited, artistic sensibilities. Oddly, however, there was no one there; no desk, no chairs and no receptionist. There was merely a security camera in one corner of the room and a set of double doors at the end opposite them.

"Uh…weird," said Kale, looking around.

"They couldn't've moved out, could they?" wondered Nori aloud.

"Let's try the doors," said Ace, moving forward, purposefully.

The yellow doors opened into a pitch-black room. They felt around, eventually all stepping onto a slightly raised platform. Nori felt around, her hand coming in contact with something metal.

"There's some sort of bar here," she said, as the lights suddenly switched on. The three had time only to register that they were in a tunnel, painted yellow (surprise, surprise), and standing on a flat, yellow platform with a metal railing on three edges before it jerked forward. They grabbed the railing, holding the metal tightly as they began to accelerate.

"Dude…what the hell?" asked Kale.

"No ideaaaaaadammit!" said Nori as they began rocketing downhill. They were violently jerked forward as the platform hit a large pool of water, splashing all three of them.

As quickly as it happened, they were going uphill, painfully slowly. 

"I want off this ride, right now," said Kale weakly.

"Just wait," said Ace disgustedly. "The big hill is right up hereoh_sh_—"

They teetered a moment on the crest of the enclosed hill, long enough that they could see exactly how far they were about to fall…and then they did.

Nori felt as though she had left her voice and her stomach at the top of that hill. The platform careened down, swirling through a winding spiral segment like an out-of-control shopping cart in a parking structure, punctuated by short screams from the trainers. After what felt like an eternity, the platform somehow spun one hundred eighty degrees and stopped abruptly, sending the three of them flying to land in a heap. Nori stood up, watching the hated thing withdraw back up the tunnel. She was positive that in some strange way, it was laughing at them.

As the guys rose, groaning, Nori studied the surroundings. They were in a battle arena—orange, for something different. Advancing on them, laughing, was a short, balding old man with extremely spiky white hair. He had on a sweater of an extremely familiar shade and dark khaki pants.

"That was lovely! You should've seen your fa-ha-ha-aces," he said, his deep belly laugh almost uncontrollable. "Call me Wattson! What can I do for you kids?" he asked, vigorously shaking the hands of each of them.

"I'm here to battle," Ace announced.

"Same here," said Nori.

"Just here to watch," said Kale, rubbing his hand.

"Great! Ladies first," said Wattson. "Two-versus-two, last one standing suit you?"

"Works for me," said Nori, shrugging. She selected a pokéball and a great ball from her belt.

"All right!" Wattson called. "You ready?"

"As I'll ever be," replied Nori. "Go Agni and Indra!"

"Go Magneton and Magnemite!"

Nori smiled to herself. Agni had an advantage against both of them, the electric-types also being part steel, and Indra, while a tad inexperienced, had a defensive advantage against electric attacks.

"Oh! I almost forgot…" said Wattson, reaching up and grabbing a gray, narrow box hanging on a cord from the ceiling. He pressed a button, initiating some sort of mechanical sequence. Small squares of the arena, one at each corner and a couple in the middle, slid down and out of view. What was raised were a number of towering electrical apparatuses—a number of metal circles around a central pole, all crackling with electricity. The four at the corners of the arena hummed angrily before being joined together by glowing arcs of tamed lightning.

"This is a caged match." Wattson grinned.

~*~*~

Woo! Cliffhanger, bahaha! Fun, eh? Hopefully this'll spur me into getting the next chapter out faster. Anyway, please please please please review!! The only thing that keeps me writing when I really should be doing a physics lab is the thought of my wonderful fans. *sniffle* GROUP HUG EVERYBODY!! T.T 

ROFL. Anyway, Q&A time!

Mal: Aww, you should be nicer to your muses…mine get mad and start biting really easily. :( LOL j/k

Lady Silver D: *giggles* Hehe, we'll see, we'll see. ^_~

Koriku: Pronunciation guide? Sure! It's at the bottom. ^_^

Stellar: *patpat* ^_^

Julie: Hehe, well, I didn't intend for the furniture being covered to mean anything, but you're right about the portraits…I imagine I'll explain that one later. ^_~

Ack! I didn't notice that about the dialogue…I'll change that if I haven't already. ^_^;;

Hehe, I admit it, I make too many references to Tolkien. ^_~ But anyway…the Old Tongue, let's see…well, I can't give away too much (you guys know me), but let's just say that words have power… Oh, and the Ookami no Fuyu is just plain ol' Japanese. I'm pretty sure it means something like Wolf of Winter or Wolf's Winter, but I really can't be sure, as I don't speak it—I'm just handy with a dictionary and I used to watch too many fansubs. ^_~

Obsidian Blade: Heh, thanks for reading! Your ficcy is great too. And keep reading, I wrote the first chapter on the spur of the moment. ^_~

****

Pronunciation Guide

Noirsha – NWAR-sha: Two syllables, "noir" like the french "noir", rather like "nwar" with an a like "f**a**ther" and the stress on the n. "Sha", where sh is like the word "**sh**ip" and with an a like "f**a**ther" as well.

Ilthuriel – Ill-THOO-ree-ell: Four syllables, "Il" like the word "**ill**", "thu" like the beginning of the word "**thu**rsday". "Ri" like the word "**ree**d", "el" like the word "**el**se".

Lotharquiel – Lo-THAR-ki-ell: Four syllables, "Lo" like the word "**lo**w", "th" like the word "**th**ursday", "ar" like the word "**ar**e", "ki" like the word "coo**ki**e", "el" like the word "**el**se".

E'riisim – EH-REE-sim: Three syllables, "E" like the "é" in pok**é**mon, "rii" like the word "**re**al", "sim" like the word "**sim**ulate".

Kuroi – KOO-roy: Two syllables, "Ku" like the c in "**c**ook" and the oo in "b**oo**t", "roi" like the name "**Roy**".

Malaclypse – MAHL-a-klipss: Three syllables, "Mal" like the word "**mal**content", "a" like the word "f**a**ther" and "clypse" like word "**clips**".

Feuerhund - (German) FIRE-hoond: "Feuer", pronounced "**fire**", "hund", pronounced "**hoond**", like "hound" but with an "**oo**" sound rather than an "ow". 

Whew! That was kind of tiring. Anyway, if anyone wants the pronunciation of a word, just request it in your review and I'll post it with the next chapter. ^_^

See the review button? CLICK IT!! Cheers.


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